CEVA Logistics switches 14 trucks in France to 100% renewable diesel

As part of its efforts to reduce emissions from its ground operations, CEVA Logistics is switching the logistics flows it operates for Toyota Motor Europe in Northern France to hydrotreated vegetable oil, also referred to as renewable diesel.

By using this hydrotreated biofuel to power trucks over a distance of nearly 4,000 miles every day, the company will cut its annual carbon emissions by more 1,200 metric tons.

The 14 CEVA trucks, used to collect and deliver automotive parts, are deployed on three daily routes to supply the Toyota Motor Manufacturing France plant and Toyota’s cross-docking platform in Onnaing near Valenciennes.

This switch to a low-carbon alternative to fossil diesel should lead to an annual saving of more than 124,000 gallons of ordinary fuel.

HVO is a certified second-generation synthetic biofuel, recognized as sustainable.

Produced solely from waste vegetable oil, HVO can power diesel cars without any technical modification.

It will enable an estimated 83 percent decrease in carbon emissions and a 30 percent decrease in fine and ultra-fine particles emissions compared to standard fuel.

The use of this 100 percent renewable diesel for regional road flows builds on the approach taken jointly by CEVA and Toyota Motor Europe to address the most important environmental challenges.

In 2022, CEVA had already set up a road-rail service with reusable containers to transport automotive parts from Spain to Northern France on a daily basis.

“We have been working with Toyota Motor Europe for more 20 years now, supplying parts to its plants in France, Spain, the U.K. and other European countries,” said Luc Nadal, CEVA Logistics’ managing director for Europe. “Such strong relationships with our clients enable us to create new logistic solutions with high-environmental added value in order to meet the energy-transition challenges.”

The use of HVO is part of CEVA’s global commitment to reduce emissions from its ground operations.

In addition to its partnership developed with Engie and SANEF to decarbonize the road freight sector (ECTN Alliance), CEVA recently announced the acquisition of 1,540 electric vehicles, which will be deployed on all dedicated logistic operations by the end of 2025.

It also announced earlier this year that the company was expecting to power all its warehouses with 100 percent low-carbon electricity in the same timeframe.

CEVA said that these commitments, among other initiatives such as scaling up the use of biofuels, testing hydrogen fuel cell and transitioning eligible full-truckload shipments to rail solutions, enable the company to be at the forefront of the logistics industry’s energy transition and to meet its customers’ growing demand for sustainable solutions.

As a subsidiary of CMA CGM Group, CEVA Logistics said it is “strongly committed to protecting the environment and reducing the impact of its operations.”

The group invests in research and development to drive innovation in low-carbon technologies and energy sources, in order to reach net-zero emissions by 2050, according to CEVA.

Headquartered in Marseille, France, CEVA Logistics offers a broad range of end-to-end, customized solutions in contract logistics and air, ocean, ground and finished-vehicle transport in 170 countries worldwide with approximately 110,000 employees at more than 1,300 facilities.