DPD Ireland has progressed efforts to decarbonise its fleet by 2030 by using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) instead of diesel to fuel its heavy goods vehicles.

The parcel delivery firm achieved the milestone of 1m sustainable deliveries in August, and is now in the process of switching all domestic linehaul routes to 100% HVO in order to slash emissions by 87% versus 2020 levels.

DPD expects to reduce its annual emissions of CO2 by 4,350 tonnes, or the equivalent of taking 937 cars off the road for a year.

The company is installing dedicated HVO storage tanks on site at its central sorting hub in Athlone as it is not available at commercial hub, and it will be able to supply 100% of its domestic linehaul routes on renewable HVO upon completion.

“We’ve had HVO on our radar for several years," said Des Travers, CEO of DPD Ireland. "It has become imperative for our business to reduce our emissions which is why we are taking action.

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"We are on a journey to become the most sustainable parcel delivery company in Ireland and this is just the next step for us. We will continue to overcome the challenges as we 100% decarbonise our business.

“At full capacity, the company will be avoiding 16 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per day versus a fully diesel operation. This is due to the reduced well-to-wheel emissions that HVO offers.”

DPD currently delivers more than 4,000 parcels per day by electric van, and expects to take deliver of 205 all-electric Ford eTransits by mid-2023, bringing the size of its electric fleet to 258.

HVO can be used as a drop-in replace for diesel though, meaning existing diesel vehicles can be reused with the sustainable fuel.

James Atkinson, sustainability programme manager at DPD Ireland, said the company is using a smart pump system to track its emissions savings.

"The HVO dispensed at the pump is automatically recorded to track our total usage. The vehicles’ odometer is tracked when the fuel is dispensed, and a digital record is kept that correlates fuel used with kilometres driven," he explained.

"By tracking the vehicle type, we can more accurately calculate the emissions avoided. This is a step up in our emissions tracking and enables better reporting."

DPD last year announced a further €2m investment to decarbonise its fleet, with the addition of 100 electric vehicles by the end of 2022. The company has already invested €3.2 million since 2019 in electric vans and infrastructure.

The wider DPD Group employs 97,000 people and delivers 1.9bn parcels each year. Parent GeoPost recorded sales of €11bn in 2020.

Photo: (l-r) Colin Kennedy, chief information officer and Darragh Lowry, head of transport for DPD Ireland.