A lot of people are buzzing about ways to greenify the supply chain. For logistics and shipping, as well as many other industries, carbon offsetting is being bandied about as a green currency of the future.

What I think people are missing in the international shipping game is that there is a better way that exists right now, and it’s quite simply the process of shipping direct.

If you dig into how your current shipping company is routing your packages from, for example, New York to London, you’d probably see that they don’t just go from point A to point B. They also get routed through points C, D, and E. And that can mean that your package can take the scenic route over thousands of extra miles.

We go the distance, but without the extra miles.
First Global Xpress believes in shipping direct from point A to B, and that’s what we do for each and every one of our clients. We fly direct flights to move our shipments all over the world every single day of the year.

If you’re in New York and ship a package to London with an integrator such as FedEx, UPS, or DHL, that package will travel through a hub-and-spoke system, adding up to around 37 percent more miles than the same shipment with First Global Xpress. In the particular case of London, the integrator’s shipment will travel 5,419 miles, while the First Global Xpress package will travel just 3,452 miles.

Beyond the waste from extra mileage, factor in the following:

· Passing shipments through hubs means all packages must be sorted an extra four to five times.

· Passing shipments through multiple hubs means that your package requires at least two flights, not to mention two takeoffs, which are the most gas-guzzling portion of the flight.

Once these elements are included, you’re probably nearing the 100% mark. We believe that integrators such as FedEx use about twice as much energy to get a package to its final destination as FGX.

A 3-lb package that travels 5,419 miles on two flights is responsible for the release of 26.6 lbs of CO₂ or more into the upper atmosphere. The same shipment given to First Global Xpress is responsible for the release of 17.1 lbs of CO₂. This equation does not take into consideration the integrator’s energy usage at the many hubs, nor the fuel burn ratio for takeoff versus cruising altitude (FedEx uses two flights when delivering to London).

NYC-London: What impact does your choice of shipper have on the environment?

The Wasteful Choice: The Typical Integrator

1,000 shipments per year x 3 lbs per shipment = 3,000 lbs shipped per year

3,000 lbs shipped per year x CO₂ released when traveling 5,419 miles NYC-Memphis-London = 26,880 lbs of CO₂ as a by-product, released directly into the upper atmosphere

The Greener Choice: First Global Xpress

1,000 shipments per year x 3 lbs per shipment = 3,000 lbs shipped per year

3,000 lbs shipped per year x CO₂ released when shipping direct 3,452 miles NYC-London = 17,123 lbs of CO₂ as a by-product, released directly into the upper atmosphere

The Choice is Up to You
What does this mean for you? In the above example, you would remove 9,757 lbs of CO₂ from being pumped out into the atmosphere (it takes approximately 550 trees a full year to neutralize the CO₂ alone). And this does not include the resources used in a hub-and-spoke system that aren’t used when shipping direct.

If you want your company to choose the greener option for international shipping, then contact me, Justin Brown, at First Global Xpress to learn more (Email: sales@fgxusa.com; Tel: 212-352-9390). I’m working hard to make sure that my business is making the right choices for the environment, and I want to help you make the right choices for yours as well.

Tags: carbon emissions, carbon offsets, DHL, FedEx, green shipping, hub-and-spoke, shipping direct, UPS

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 9:24 am and is filed under Shipgreener, Start Here. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.