One of Merseyside’s leading logistics firms has added two new green-liveried vehicles to its fleet to mark a carbon-cutting partnership with one of its key customers.

Haydock and St Helens-based SSO Logistics has added the two MAN 18T rigids to its 70-strong fleet to celebrate its partnership with Zeelandia, one of the UK’s biggest bakery ingredients manufacturers.

Thanks to its membership of the Pallet-Track network, SSO only has to travel a mere 0.8 miles from Pallet-Track’s Northern Hub in Ashton-under-Makerfield to collect Zeelandia’s products from its neighbouring manufacturing facility.

From there, the goods – including mincemeat, jams, caramels, and fruit fillings – are shipped by SSO directly to their final destinations across the UK, significantly cutting wasted mileage and unnecessary carbon emissions.

Carbon cutting

Last year, Pallet-Track became a Carbon Certified Business, underlining its ongoing commitment to becoming carbon neutral.

It is the first UK pallet network to accurately measure, monitor and reduce its Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions, thanks to a partnership with carbon reduction specialists Eight Versa.

Its analysis of all journeys in 2023 highlighted a saving of 64 million miles thanks to the strategic locations of its regional hubs, including the Northern Hub.

SSO Logistics has followed suit and is also working with Eight Versa to measure its own carbon emissions.

Peter Draper, CEO of SSO Logistics, said: “This partnership with Zeelandia demonstrates our commitment to reducing unnecessary carbon emissions across our operations. By picking up its products to directly distribute, the carbon footprint of every delivery is reduced.

“We’ve joined Pallet-Track in its aim to become carbon-neutral, and we will roll out our learnings across our whole business.

“The industry sees many ‘greenwashing’ tactics such as planting trees to offset emissions. This does nothing to reduce emissions, which is the core issue we should all be aiming for. Pallet-Track is doing things the right way and we’re pleased to be on that journey with them.”

Reducing environmental impact

Martin Sanderson, operations director at Zeelandia UK Limited, said: “By partnering with SSO and using Pallet-Track’s hub right on our doorstep, Zeelandia UK is cutting delivery miles and tracking the carbon footprint of every shipment – a big step forward in our mission to reduce our environmental impact.

“We are proud of working with such a forward-thinking logistics partner, with our shared focus on sustainability.”

Stuart Godman, CEO of Pallet-Track, said: “This is a fitting example of a forward-thinking shareholder member collaborating smartly with its customers to reduce its carbon footprint.

“The new vehicles look fantastic and represent the changes we are making across the whole business to remove unnecessary mileage from all our operations.”