H.Essers explains sustainable strategy in new sustainability report

Since its founding in 1928, H.Essers has grown into a global player in logistics and transport. As a specialist in chemical and healthcare logistics, the company plays a pioneering role in sustainable business. In June 2023, H.Essers published the fourth edition of its sustainability report, an 84-page document in which the company transparently reports on its sustainability policy. We asked Bob Van Steenweghen, corporate affairs manager, to explain some of the highlights.

Over 7,600 employees, 88 sites in 18 countries, more than 1.3 million square meters of warehouse space and a fleet of 1,420 tractors and 4,060 trailers: with these impressive figures, H.Essers proves that it is one of the top companies in our country. This is also reflected in the turnover figure. In 2022, the cape of 1 billion euros was rounded. At this new milestone, management and employees at the Genk headquarters are not leaning back. On the contrary, the bar is being raised again in order to continue to offer customers excellent service and to allow the company to grow further.

"H.Essers not only wants to excel economically, but also in sustainable business," says Bob Van Steenweghen. "With our company we operate in a sector that has a very visible impact on the environment. But transporting goods from point A to B simply requires the necessary energy. Logistical storage also requires the necessary available space. Reconciling that with our global climate goals is not only our responsibility, but also our mandate." 

Increasing focus on People and Planet

In its new sustainability report, H.Essers proves that sustainable business is in the company's DNA. "Corporate social responsibility has been on our agenda for a long time, and for some years now companies around the world have been serious about it. So, fortunately, it's not just words," Bob explains. "This shift is partly due to the United Nations' seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (the SDGs, n.v.d.r.). Based on our five corporate values, we made a selection of these SDGs within H.Essers over the past year, with five goals that we translated into sustainability thrusts. On this basis, we drew up nineteen very concrete ambitions on which we are working with the entire company and all our stakeholders."

Five SDGs in the spotlight

What five SDGs were prioritized at H.Essers this past year? "We focused on health and well-being, education, fair work and economic growth, innovation/customer-centric thinking and climate action." Read: SDGs 3, 4, 8, 9 and 13. "In our Sustainability Report 2023, we explain in detail how we are putting each goal into practice, and also back this up with tangible figures."

"In the area of health and safety, we are able to present attractive absenteeism figures for 2022, with only 3% of our employees in Belgium, Romania and Bulgaria having been absent due to illness in the short term. At the same time, we are taking increasing action to more accurately report and prevent workplace accidents, including targeted awareness campaigns in the workplace. Every year we aim for a 10% decrease in the number of accidents."

"As far as training is concerned, I would like to refer through our report to all the efforts we make within H.Essers to ensure lifelong learning for our employees - from management to truck drivers. In each country, for example, we invest in at least 20 training hours per employee per year. We invest heavily in the integration and advancement of our people, including with our H.Essers Academy."

Shift to multi- and synchromodality

And for the three other SDGs (fair work and economic growth, innovation/customer-centric thinking and climate action) H.Essers is also shifting up a few gears. "In our sustainability report you can read that we are fully committed to maximum customer intimacy. We think along with our customers and search together for the most sustainable solutions for their logistics. We also measure their satisfaction through the NPS score. We want to see that score raised by 20% by 2025."

"In terms of climate action, we go for 'improve, avoid, shift and HVO insetting,' four pillars through which we want to encourage and inspire industry peers to also play the card of sustainability. Improve' is about using energy more efficiently and using alternative energy sources. 'Avoid' involves working with customers to increase the fill rate of trucks, containers and warehouses. Such consolidations often require complex data analyses and simulations by advanced systems, but are necessary and promising. With 'shift' we focus on synchromodality: the smart and dynamic combination of available transport modes. H.Essers has been investing for years in multimodal concepts, systems, fleet and infrastructure. And finally, last year we were the first in Europe to launch the 'HVO insetting' for road transport, a 'book & claim' solution whereby customers can immediately decarbonize their transports of choice."

"In short: these four pillars show that there are many different and viable options for greening logistics!" ■