In late June 2024, Portuguese transporter KLOG Logistics Solutions will deploy the first of several heavy-duty battery electric vehicles from Scania to transport IKEA products from the IKEA Industry factory in Paços de Ferreira to the Porto Harbor in Leixões, and to IKEA stores.
This collaboration and electric transition are the result of discussions initiated by IKEA Supply Chain Operations and Scania Group in 2023. They are first steps in the Portuguese market, where electrification of heavy transport is challenging, and development of local infrastructure is still in early stages. Similar electric transitions for the transportation of IKEA products are also taking place in southern France and Poland.
The shift to electric in Portugal has been made economically and practically possible through calculations of routes, energy use and charging time for the battery electric vehicles.
IKEA Industry will implement a pick-and-drop solution, where the vehicle’s trailer is left at the depot and replaced with another loaded one, to maximize the vehicle’s uptime and avoid empty trucks. Charging solutions will be provided at the harbor by the Portuguese Port Authority of Leixões (APDL) and are expected by IKEA at the IKEA Industry factory.
“To be able to make a real shift toward transport decarbonization, we need to collaborate across the value chain,” says Dariusz Mroczek, category area transport manager, IKEA Supply Chain Operations. “Today’s announcement is a great example of how we reduce carbon emissions and find scalable solutions together.”
“History is being written, and we are of course immensely proud to be among the first in Portugal to run electric goods transportations,” adds Egídio Lopes, managing director at KLOG. “Our vision is to be recognized in the international market as a leading logistics company in excellence of services, consistently providing high standards of quality to our customers and promoting responsible business and environmental practices.”