Hit & Dit

The family has focused their sustainability practices on improving their services, including obtaining certifications for fair transportation and updating their vehicles to more sustainable options.

Certification for fair transportation

Since 2019, Catrin has started the process of obtaining certification for fair practices in the transportation industry. This national certification indicates whether supply chain companies have achieved sustainability through different practices. For instance, inspectors visit the company annually by checking work journals to see whether drivers have worked overtime (i.e., worked more than six hours) and violated traffic regulations during their services. They also interview employees to examine whether employees receive equal treatment, such as fair wages and evaluations. In addition, inspectors examine vehicles and facilities to see whether the conditions are updated and can effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

As such, the family has paid attention to their practices addressing employees’ well-being and the conditions of the vehicles. For instance, all their small vehicles should not be older than five years, and their lorries should not be older than ten years. Updating their vehicles helps them ensure fuel efficiency and emission control and provides drivers with more comfortable “offices.” Nicklas shared: 

“We are investing a lot of our money back into the company. Almost all the money ends up in cars because our employees create value. We need to show them respect by making sure that their office—the car—looks fine and nice every day.” 

In turn, their employees tend to work longer at their firm than those at their competitors.

Sustainable vehicles

In addition to keeping vehicles relatively new, the family has paid attention to the types of vehicles they purchase. For instance, following the climate goals of the Swedish government in 2030, the company has started replacing some of its vehicles with ones based on hydrogenated vegetable oil (HVO) to reduce fossil fuel consumption in its services. They have also begun recording each fuel per vehicle so that they can provide data to show customers that their vehicles have better fuel efficiency and lower emissions than traditional vehicles. Moreover, they offer two different service options to customers—one with traditional vehicles and one with HVO—so that customers can choose a more sustainable option when partnering with them.

The family considers HVO vehicles merely to be in the transitional stage. In the future, they plan to switch to completely electric vehicles when delivering their services. They believe that it is important to take a large step forward rather than stay in the transitional stage by having hybrid vehicles. Nicklas mentioned, “We are late on the electrification, so we need to take the big steps straight away.”

However, several challenges prevent the family from switching to complete electrical vehicles. First, the regulations on weights affect how much cargo can be delivered per drive. If the government does not relax the weight restriction on electric vehicles but instead imposes the same restriction on all types of vehicles, an electric vehicle can carry approximately half of the cargo as a traditional vehicle of the same size. Second, there is insufficient infrastructure, i.e., charging stations for electric vehicles, throughout the country. Without an expansive network, the family cannot ensure reliable long-distance deliveries with only electric vehicles. Finally, an electric vehicle costs 50 percent more than a traditional vehicle based on fossil fuel. If they want to replace 60 vehicles with electrical ones, it will cost approximately 54 million SEK, beyond what their financial budget allows. Because of these regulations, infrastructure, and financial challenges, the family is uncertain when they can successfully replace all their vehicles with electric ones.