Developing sustainable freight transportation -Primary barriers encountered when freight intensive companies implement and develop sustainable oversea freight transportation in Europe

Abstract

Transportation is a key factor in today’s society, since it enables trade and thereby foster our economy. However, it also generates negative externalities, which leads to increasing global temperature and an indirect GDP related cost. Freight transport is a large contributor to this related problem, and is expected to quadruple in the nearest 30 years along with an increase in global population. Hence, there is an urgent need for change. This study will contribute to highlight this need by increasing the knowledge regarding primary barriers that freight intense companies encounter when implementing and developing sustainable oversea freight transportation in Europe. This is done by answering the question regarding what primary barriers there are for companies when developing more sustainable oversea transportation, and, how a company possibly could cope with these potential barriers. This study is based on a qualitative research method and conducted as a case study, using freight buying and supplying companies who have an interest in sustainable development. By interviewing a variety of companies who play different roles within the industry, the hope is that this will somewhat reflect the reality for a common actor in the industry. The result shows that barriers could be derived both internally and externally. Internally, a company might have an inconsistent mindset towards sustainable development, which may lead to contradictory goals between different departments. This in turn could be a result of uncertainty. Externally, technical difficulties, aggravated infrastructure, the nonenvironmental- prioritizing procurement process, the just-in-time demand from customers, along with dissimilar regulation between countries, all hinder the sustainable development. A change in way of thinking and prioritizing must be put to action in order to develop sustainable transportation.