DHL and Sandahls will be responsible for Svenska Retursystem’s transport within Sweden starting May 1. The goal of fossil-free domestic transport by 2025 is the center of the new collaboration.
In 2023, Svenska Retursystem (Sweden Return System), Sweden’s cooperative food industry returnable container and pallet pool, carried out an extensive procurement of its domestic transport. Agreements have now been signed with DHL and Sandahls, which take effect from 1 May 2024 and extend to September 2027.
“We have had a great focus on finding partners who will take us to our goal of fossil-free domestic transport by 2025,” stated Pontus Björkdahl, head of sustainability at Svenska Retursystem. “The fact that we chose DHL and Sandahls is largely due to the fact that they were able to present a plan to reach the goal with a significant proportion of electricity and biogas and transport by train.”
DHL
DHL will be responsible for the transports to and from Svenska Retursystem’s logistics facilities in Mölnlycke, Helsingborg, Västerås and Örebro as well as associated external warehouses. DHL has been a partner of Svenska Retursystem for many years, and the agreement deepens the collaboration around fossil-free road transport.
“We are happy to have a long-term collaboration with Svenska Retursystem which is now being further developed and where together we are at the forefront of a green transition and enable a completely fossil-free logistics solution,” said Maria Nilsson Öhman, Sustainability Affairs Specialist at DHL Freight in Sweden. “We really look forward to continuing our successful collaboration, which is now being extended to southern Sweden.”
Sandahls
Sandahls will be responsible for the transports to and from Svenska Retursystem’s newly built facility in Vaggeryd and transports with its own train solution in Västerås that delivers to and from the northern parts of Sweden. As much as 35 percent of Sandahl’s transport will take place by train.
“We decided early on in our start-up under our own auspices that Sandahls should be the industry leader in the sustainable transition, which is why we are extra happy about our future collaboration with Svenska Retursystem,” said Per Gustavsson, sales manager at Sandahls Logistik. “We really look forward to a long and rewarding partnership with a green transition and a sustainable future as the ultimate goal.”
In order for the country’s food flows to function smoothly, it is of great importance that the deliveries of SRS pallets and reusable crates reach the users of the return system in an efficient and sustainable way. When choosing DHL and Sandahls, the companies’ work with delivery security and accessibility to customers, combined with their work to reach Svenska Retursystem’s goal of fossil-free transport by 2025, were decisive factors.
“It is gratifying that we can present two stable partners for our domestic transport,” concluded Daniel Briland, transport manager at Swedish Return System. “Both DHL and Sandahls meet our high demands when it comes to durability, delivery precision and cost efficiency. We look forward to a long and rewarding collaboration.”
DHL is one of the world’s leading logistics companies, boasting approximately 4,500 employees in Sweden. Globally, the DHL Group has more than 600,000 employees in over 220 countries. Sandahlsbolagen Sweden AB is a group parent company. The group consists of 8 subsidiaries in the areas of transport and contracting. The business is family-owned and operationally spread across Sweden with headquarters in Småland. The group has over 1,000 employees. Read more at Sandahl’s.
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Rick LeBlanc, EMBA, is the founder and editor of Reusable Packaging News (subscribe to the free newsletter) and editor of Western Pallet Magazine. A supply chain journalist with more than 30 years of experience, he specializes in pallets, reusable packaging, material handling and related operations. Rick is co-author of Pallets: A North American Perspective and Pallets & Progress: A Collected History of Pallets and Palletized Handling 1922–1945. He is also an advisory board member of the Virginia Tech Center for Packaging and Unit Load Design. Read Rick’s full bio.
