Electric trucking at Den Hartogh Logistics – Den Hartogh & ORTEC

 Overview

Company Description

Den Hartogh Logistics is one of the leading Logistics Service Providers. The family-owned organisation was established in The Netherlands in 1920. As a bulk logistics service provider for the chemical, gas, polymer and food industry, they combine the best elements to create the optimal solution for each situation. Safety and operational excellence are embedded in their culture.

Den Hartogh has a presence in every region of the world, with premises/offices in 47 locations within 26 countries. Their workforce consists of more than 1,800 people and our modern equipment includes more than 20,000 tank containers, 6,100 dry bulk containers and specialised dry bulk trailers, 350 tank trailers and 625 trucks.

From their four business units, this project will take place in business unit Liquid Logistics Europe. This business unit is responsible for all the intra-European liquid chemical activities.

 Den Hartogh works closely with ORTEC on the topic of optimizing the operational planning of trucks and tank containers for some of its clusters. ORTEC is a global and leading partner in data-driven decision support. By leveraging data with their passion for mathematics, they enable many of the best run organizations to optimize their business decisions. Their smart solutions, ranging from business analysis and data analytics to mathematical modeling and optimization technology, lead to more efficient, adaptive, effective, and sustainable organizations.

 With 1,100 employees across 13 countries, ORTEC globally supports more than 1,200 customers to take the best decisions in an ever-changing environment.  Leveraging data and mathematics for a better world.

Project Description

Den Hartogh Logistics’ ambition is to become a carbon-neutral Logistics Service Provider by 2050. From all our transport activities worldwide, trucking is the activity resulting in the highest CO2 emissions. Hence, electrification of our trucking activities is key in reaching our 2050 ambition. Together with our partner ORTEC, we want to take the next steps to realize our ambition.

However, today, there are still a lot of restrictions using electric trucking for transporting liquid chemicals in Europe. Electric trucks are not allowed to transport hazardous chemicals, the batteries need to be charged during the day and the infrastructure is not covering our trucking network.

To start small and experience electric trucking, Den Hartogh is deploying an electric truck for 1 day per week moving tank containers in the Rotterdam chemical cluster (https://www.denhartogh.com/news/372).

But we want to take this initiative a step further. We would like to understand under which circumstances it would be economically viable to invest in more electric trucking. Starting with the AsIs-scenario, i.e. local electric trucking moving non-hazardous tank containers. But also investigating the impact when relaxing these constrains. Hence, what is the business case when we can move full tank containers with hazardous product over a longer distance?

These insights will help us in our investment decision, but also in working together with stakeholders who are the owners of the constraints.

Goals of the Project

Investigate under which circumstances electric trucking becomes a viable option in transporting liquid chemicals. 

Deliverables

Msc thesis report

Essential Student Knowledge

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More information: escf@tue.nl