Skip to main content Skip to primary navigation

Umicore sustainable transport project wins award

Every year 12,000 fewer trucks on the road

This year Umicore had the honour of receiving the OTM* award. OTM rewarded Umicore for its innovative way of enhancing sustainability in the transport of raw materials to the Hoboken factory.

Every year Umicore processes around 350,000 tonnes of materials. About one third of these materials is delivered by means of containers. The location along the River Scheldt and the new quay offered possibilities to supply and remove containers by means of the waterway. An innovative concept was developed together with Van Moer Group.

The container supply is shipped from the port of Antwerp by Van Moer company at a rate of minimum 3 inland waterway vessels per week: an annual decrease in road transport of around 6,000 containers. Every year this means a reduction of more than 12,000 trucks in built-up areas and on the Antwerp ring road.

After the scheduled capacity expansion on the site, even more materials will be processed. The logistic procedure has already been adapted. Senior Vice President Luc Gellens said: “We are very happy about the external approval of our new method for transporting raw materials. This solution is better for our neighbours, for the environment because of the lower CO2 emission as well as for our own process efficiency.”

The OTM jury considered that this project is an example of daring innovation; an example for other companies which could be implemented anywhere in the context of sustainability.

*O.T.M. stands for Organisation of Traffic Managers. It is the only organisation to defend the interests of carriers, viz. companies using their own transport or other carriers for the transport of their products.