Home>Corporate Profiles>Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Activities and Environmental Activities>Modal Shift of Hitachi Transport System>Engage in Environmental Conservation through a New Form of Modal Shift in Collaboration with Export Companies

Engage in Environmental Conservation through a New Form of Modal Shift in Collaboration with Export Companies

: 40ft marine container

Hitachi Transport System reduced the traffic volume of empty containers through modal shift combining traffic of import and export containers.

Previously, most containers used for imports were returned to the container storage in Port of Tokyo after they were unloaded and emptied. Meanwhile, export companies loaded cargo after bringing inland empty containers from the Port of Tokyo.

This is where the modal shift in medium-range transport came into play. We developed a way to efficiently integrate the containers activities of import and export companies. The shift was made possible through partnership between Hitachi Transport System with high import but low export volume, and export company J in the Tochigi area with high export but low import volume.

Marine containers are normally owned by ship companies and furthermore, must be returned to the ship company upon usage. The fact that different ship companies were used by the importing company (Hitachi Transport System) and exporting company (J) respectively became an issue. We then came with a solution: Hitachi Transport System trailers return empty containers to UiCT(*1), the container storage in Utsunomiya, after delivering loaded containers to Hitachi Appliances Tochigi Office; empty containers for J would then be delivered to J's Ohtawara factory, and be exchanged with loaded containers; then trailers would finally deliver them to Utsunomiya Freight Terminal.

*1 Utsunomiya International Cargo Terminal

<Medium-range modal shift in collaboration with export companies>

Partnership with Company J was made possible through this effort and ultimately led to reducing CO₂ emission by 115 tons annually through minimizing the traffic of empty containers.

The key to the success in medium-range modal shift via through partnership with export companies

One of the keys to the success for this medium-range modal shift was that the two companies were in relatively close proximity. Another factor was the cooperative support of the two ship companies (OOCL and Kawasaki Kisen) in the container storage "UiCT" due to their mutual good relationship. The most significant factor, however, was Hitachi Transport System possessing the know-how of conducting efficient trailer transports. As of FY2005, we have made about 20 modal shifts in medium-range transport per month into action.