With 95% of the UK’s imports and exports transported by sea, the efficient operation of ports is vital to almost every aspect of life and business. By the same token, ports have a significant influence on carbon emissions too.
Thermal Road Repairs’ partner Peel Ports Group is incredibly mindful of this fact and is working hard to make changes that will lower its carbon footprint. Its efforts were rewarded recently when it became the first UK port operator to achieve Gold level membership of the Supply Chain Sustainability School, an award that recognises commitment and engagement with the school.
Established in 2012, the Supply Chain Sustainability School is a free learning resource for the built environment sector on all things sustainable. Any organisation joining the school can be assessed and benchmarked across a variety of areas: sustainability, management, offsite, digital, procurement, fairness, inclusion and respect (FIR) and lean construction. To become a Gold level member, organisations must demonstrate a high level of competence, progress and engagement and share knowledge and experience with other members.
Peel Ports operates from seven locations in UK and Ireland, handling 70 million tonnes or cargo every year and employing 1,800 people. It has pledged to achieve net zero carbon by 2040, a decade ahead of the UK Government’s 2050 deadline, setting up an innovation forum to drive change.
Among the changes Peel Ports has already made are installing energy efficient electric cranes at its L2 terminal at Liverpool that can feed electricity back into the network, using LED lighting, much of it with sensors and optimising container movements to reduce energy consumption. Around half of its vehicles are already electric, with plans to switch all vehicles by December this year. Trials of electric forklifts and green fuels such as hydro treated vegetable oil (HTVO) are also underway.
Thermal Road Repairs is proud to note that our repair process has contributed to Peel Ports’ carbon savings. Rather than resurfacing roads suffering from potholes and other defects, our technology means that the damaged areas are heated, with just small amounts of virgin material added, mixed and compacted. The operator reports that 5 million tonnes of carbon have been saved by recycling asphalt rather than bringing in new material.
Compared to traditional methods, Thermal Road Repairs helps reduce carbon emissions by at least 85% on the repair process alone. Coupled with savings from recycling asphalt, Thermal Road Repairs is playing a significant role in helping Peel Ports reduce their overall carbon emissions and reach their net zero target.
Thermal Road Repairs is a green technology company which supplies systems to improve the quality, cost and time efficiency of road repairs and paving – at a far lower environmental cost than traditional methods. It invests significantly in R&D, to create new technologies and to continuously improve existing ones.
Thermal Road Repairs: Decarbonising the asphalt repair industry.
High output. Zero emission. Zero waste. Permanent solution.
Sources:
https://www.peelports.com/news-articles/peel-ports-achieves-sustainability-gold
https://www.peelports.com/sustainability/net-zero-2040