With a new, smarter approach to supply chain management, Dümmen Orange made significant savings on the amount of air freight kilometers and, thus, on CO2 emissions. By bringing production and sales markets closer together, far fewer air kilometers were needed to bring the company's cuttings to customers.
Dümmen Orange produces the starting material for crops such as Dianthus, Kalanchoe, and Poinsettia closer to markets, shortening air transport lines and significantly reducing CO2 emissions.
In 2020, Dümmen Orange started the so-called Footprint Project, a major operation unmatched in the flower industry, with an aim to optimize the company's supply chain and significantly reduce the ecological impact of air transport.
Benjamin Goepferich, Regional Direction Africa, explains: 'The starting point of our Footprint Project is that we simplify and shorten air freight routes. In 2020 we started to move some of our mother plants from Central America to Africa. The main part of the operation was the transfer of a production volume of approximately 57 million cuttings from El Salvador and Guatemala to Kenya. Additionally, some mother plants were relocated from Tanzania to Guatemala. We now serve large groups of customers in North America from our farms in Central America and customers in Europe from our farms in Africa. By doing so, we were able to significantly reduce the number of long, more environmentally damaging routes across the ocean from Africa to America and from Central America to Europe.'
Quality gains
Each crop moved from Central America to Africa saves about 3,000 kilometers per flight to Europe. For crops that have been moved from Africa to Central America, the saving is no less than 11,000 kilometers per flight. Benjamin Goepferich: 'We have received the data from the last production season, which has just ended. From Kenya, we have supplied almost 25 million cuttings to Europe that previously came from Central America. That's about 37 tons... the weight of more than ten female African elephants. An impressive number, especially when you consider how small and light our cuttings are.'
Shorter air transport lines save the weight of more than 10 elephants in cargo (photo: Chris Stenger)
In addition to environmental benefits, the Footprint Project also yields quality gains. Benjamin Goepferich: 'Shorter and simpler transport routes, without intermediate transshipment at airports, enable us to better manage the cold chain. And that benefits the quality of our products."
Initial situation (left) and result 'Footprint Project' (right)
For more information:
Dümmen Orange
www.dummenorange.com