First fully-electric local container transport in Hamburg

Press Release 05 Jun 2023

Tchibo and Contargo take a new road together in the Port of Hamburg

Since mid-May, Contargo Road Logistics in Hamburg has been performing part of the local last mile trucking for Tchibo with fully-electric trucks in a pilot scheme. Raw coffee containers are transported by the logistics service provider between the Port of Hamburg and the coffee warehouse with two Volvo FH Electric trucks, thus not only generating less noise and emissions in the port area, but also reducing the ecological footprint of both enterprises.

At the beginning of May, Container hinterland logistics network Contargo recently presented its new product “econtargo” and its activities and ambitions in the area of electromobility at the transport logistic exhibition in Munich. In accordance with the motto “Avoidance before reduction before compensation” the enterprise is successively expanding its fleet of e-trucks to 32 vehicles, and investing in a comprehensive charging infrastructure at all Contargo’s locations in Germany.

Range up to 300 kilometres

One of the first customers for fully-electric local container transport in Hamburg is Tchibo. The e-trucks have a range of up to 300 kilometres and can thus be used beyond the city area. Thanks to charging systems with an output of 250 kilowatts, the e-trucks can be fully charged within two hours if necessary. This enables Contargo to deploy them as flexibly as diesel trucks, even in 24-hour operation.

“We are working on many ways of becoming more sustainable, and of course logistics is one of them”, says Peter Maltzahn, Senior Project Manager at Tchibo. “By taking up this offer of Contargo we are happy to be able to reduce the emissions of local container transport in the Port of Hamburg, too.”

“In Tchibo we have found a strong partner who was motivated right from the start to realise this project”, says Frank Hommel, Director Sales & Marketing at Contargo.

Christian Schäfers, Branch Manager Contargo Road Logistics Hamburg, says: “It is a big compliment to us that Tchibo is prepared to back alternative drives, together with us. By enlarging our fleet to include e-trucks, we now offer our customers here in the north an excellent opportunity to avoid CO₂ emissions. We will be successively further expanding our e-truck fleet in Hamburg in the coming months.”

Part of an e-truck fleet operating throughout Germany

The two e-trucks in Hamburg are among the 27 new electric trucks currently being acquired by Contargo via sister company Rhenus Trucking, thus bringing the number of fully-electric heavy semitrailers at Contargo up to 32 vehicles. With these, the trimodal container network offers its customers a CO₂-reduced transport chain. Customers who book “econtargo” are not getting mere compensation – they benefit from combined transport by e-truck for the “last mile”, plus a main run by rail powered by green electricity. The 44-tonners are stationed at 14 Contargo locations in Germany.

More information about “econtargo” can be found here: https://econtargo.net/

About Contargo

With an annual transport volume of 2.1 million TEU, Contargo is one of the largest container logistics networks in Europe. Contargo integrates container transport between the western seaports, the German North Sea ports and the European hinterland. Contargo has 24 container terminals at its disposal in Germany, France and Switzerland and additional locations in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Poland. The enterprise also operates its own barge and rail lines. In 2022 the workforce of more than 1,200 employees achieved a turnover of 711 million Euro.