In today's sustainability-focused business landscape, many C-suite executives face a common challenge. How can they manage and reduce their Scope 3 transportation emissions while using freight forwarders and third-party logistics providers? Most believe that once you outsource your logistics, you relinquish control over your carbon footprint.
But what if that assumption is fundamentally flawed?
What if there was a way for shippers to maintain significant influence over their emissions? Even when working through freight forwarders? What if the granular data that's currently hidden could transform your ability to make strategic sustainability decisions?
Beyond averages: Why standard emissions calculations fall short
Most emissions calculations today rely heavily on industry averages and default values. When shippers ask freight forwarders about a shipment’s carbon footprint, they typically receive a figure based on standardized factors, like:
- Average vessel or vehicle emissions per mile,
- Standard container utilization rates,
- Default route distances,
- Generic fuel consumption models.
This approach produces a rough estimate at best and hides the variables that actually determine your true carbon footprint. It's like trying to understand your personal health using only population averages. It may be informative, but it’s far from accurate for your specific situation.
This detailed information includes:
Maritime Transportation
- Vessel Specifications: Exact size, capacity, engine type, and efficiency characteristics
- Voyage Details: Real speed profiles, anchorage times, and sailing patterns
- Route Specifics: Actual routes taken, not just port-to-port distances
- Loading Factors: True utilization of vessel capacity and TEU allocation
- Fuel Consumption: Actual fuel used based on engine power and resistance
- Environmental Conditions: Weather factors that significantly impact fuel efficiency
- Port Operations: Time spent in ports, berthing, and maneuvering emissions
Air Transportation
- Aircraft Type and Configuration: Cargo capacity, engine efficiency, and fuel consumption curves
- Flight Profiles: Actual altitudes, speeds, and routing taken
- Cargo Loading: True utilization of available payload capacity
- Fuel Type and Quantity: Precise measurement of fuel consumption
- Airport Operations: Ground operations and taxiing emissions
Road Transportation
- Truck Classifications: Vehicle size, engine type, and emission standards
- Operational Patterns: Speed, idling times, and acceleration behaviors
- Route Selection: Actual routes versus shortest possible distances
- Cargo Utilization: Load factors and empty running percentages
- Fuel Usage: Real-time consumption data from telematics systems
Rail Transportation
- Locomotive Specifications: Engine type, power rating, and efficiency
- Train Configuration: Length, weight, and cargo capacity
- Route Characteristics: Elevation changes, speed restrictions, and actual distances
- Fuel or Energy Type: Diesel consumption or electric power sources
- Terminal Operations: Switching and loading/unloading emissions
When these layers of information become visible, a new world of influence and optimization opens up for shippers.
How shippers can influence their carbon footprint
Armed with primary data insights, shippers can make specific requests that directly impact their carbon footprint:
- Carrier Selection Based on Actual Sustainability Performance: You can request your freight forwarder to book your cargo on specific vessels. Alternatively, you could request carriers known to have better emission profiles for your routes.
- Data-driven Strategic FCL vs LCL Decisions: Primary data provides granular visibility into your actual container utilization patterns. For example, you might discover you consistently ship FCL* containers at only 30-50% capacity. With this knowledge, you can shift to LCL** shipments instead. This approach reduces emissions by improving container utilization. Additionally, it lowers costs, creating wins for both sustainability and finance.
- Voyage and Route Selection: Not all voyages between the same ports are executed equally. Some services/schedules add extra port calls. Carriers deploy different vessel types on each service. Vessel age and speed profiles vary widely. By choosing preferred services/schedules, you can reduce your carbon footprint while meeting delivery deadlines.
- Mode and Equipment Type Selection: Primary data clarifies the actual emissions differences between transportation modes and equipment types. Consequently, you can make better decisions that balance emissions, cost, and time requirements.
Beyond Compliance: Additional benefits
While improving emissions reporting is valuable, primary data delivers additional benefits:
- Cost Reduction: Efficiency improvements that reduce emissions often cut costs by 5-10%
- Supply Chain Resilience: Understanding of your logistics network enhances reliability
- Competitive Advantage: More precise sustainability claims and product-level carbon footprint
- Risk Mitigation: Better preparation for future regulatory pressures and carbon pricing
*FCL (Full Container Load): In FCL shipping, you use and pay for an entire container.
**LCL (Less than Container Load|): With LCL you only use a portion of a shipping container’s capacity. The remaining space within that container will be filled by goods belonging to other people or businesses.
VesselBot's Supply Chain Sustainability Platform integrates primary data across all transportation modes through our Digital Twin technology. We collect real-time information from vessels, trucks, aircrafts and cargo movements to provide actionable sustainability insights.
With these insights, you can effectively collaborate with your freight forwarders. How? By implementing sustainable logistics practices, setting specific performance requirements, and tracking your progress toward emissions reduction goals.
The future of data-driven sustainability
Regulatory requirements continue to tighten as stakeholders’ expectations rise. Beyond compliance, decarbonization creates valuable opportunities. It helps strengthen ties with customers, suppliers, and investors. Therefore, understanding and managing your Scope 3 transportation emissions will become a critical business capability. Therefore, understanding and managing your Scope 3 transportation emissions will become a critical business capability.
Even when freight forwarders manage your logistics, you maintain considerable influence over your carbon footprint. The key is moving beyond averages to harness the power of primary data. By making this shift, you'll discover that sustainability and business performance aren't competing priorities. Instead, they become aligned goals that can be advanced together through the intelligent application of data.