Van Moer Logistics announces an initial investment of around 1.2 million euros in the construction of a charging station for electric freight traffic at its site along Keetberglaan on Antwerp’s left bank (Zwijndrecht).
This will be the first privately managed public charging station for freight traffic within the port of Antwerp.
The project consists of two elements.
On the one hand, a publicly accessible loading station will be gradually built with six fast chargers of 400 kilowatts.
On the other hand, the logistics provider will also build a private charging station with, in time, 30 slow chargers of 50 kilowatts for its own trucks and terminal vehicles that can charge at night.
The energy for these chargers will be generated by Van Moer Logistics’ own solar panels on the premises in combination with battery technology on the one hand, while on the other hand energy will also be purchased through green energy contracts.
In the near future, the current capacity of the solar panels will also be further expanded with an additional 3.5 MWp.
To realise these projects, the logistics provider has set up a partnership with Belgian energy company Bnewable.
They specialise in energy storage and generation for the commercial and industrial market and support companies in optimally directing their energy flows.
In this project, Bnewable is taking on the battery technology and its smart control.
“The complex thing about a battery is that it only yields with a good optimisation strategy. We capture that with our own developed, smart and unique Energy Management System,” says Kristof Vereenooghe, co-founder of Bnewable.
He continues: “Thanks to Bnewable’s EMS, the battery storage of the various loading bays is continuously smartly controlled and Van Moer Logistics can also generate additional income. This is how we relieve them in their energy transition, immediately the core of our business.”
“The integration of the energy sector into logistics marks a new phase. Thanks to Bnewable’s expertise, we can keep our focus on logistics while reducing our ecological footprint through electrification,” states Jo Van Moer, Founder & CEO of Van Moer Logistics.
“Our integrated intermodal network gives our electrification strategy the support it needs to make our customers’ supply chains more sustainable,” he adds.
The project is partly realised with the support of the Agency for Mobility and Public Works (Clean Power for Transport).
Preparations will start by the end of this year, and it is estimated that the new loading station will be progressively operational by 2025.
Van Moer Logistics’ electrification strategy
The construction of the loading station is part of Van Moer Logistics’ overall sustainability strategy. In this way, the logistics service provider is taking the first steps towards achieving their targets of a 45% CO2 reduction within the transport department by 2030.
They want to achieve this through a combination of intermodal transport, electrification and use of transition technologies (such as HVO and dual-fuel hydrogen).
“In the first years, we will focus on electrification of the most suitable routes. This involves looking at a combination of operational factors, such as trip distance and load weight, and the optimal charging strategy,” indicates Van Moer.
“These in-depth analyses are currently being carried out internally by our sustainability department,” he adds.
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