DPD, CheckedSafe and DriverNet were among the winners of the all-new transport categories at the 26th annual Supply Chain Excellence Awards, held on on Tuesday, 08 November, at the London Hilton on Park Lane.
The winners were announced and the trophies presented during a glittering gala dinner ceremony attended by nearly 800 logistics, supply-chain and transportation professionals, and hosted by comedian and actress Kerry Godliman.
DPD scooped the Clean Transport Award for its collaborations, technologies and policies aimed at reducing carbon emissions and making the business more sustainable, thereby establishing strategic advantages over the competition.
Since January 2020, DPD has grown its all-electric last-mile delivery fleet by 900% to 2,000 vehicles. What’s more the company hasn’t purchased a single diesel vehicle in that time, instead investing more than £90m in the latest EVs to deliver 16.5 million clean and green parcels in 10 UK cities in 2021.
The awards judges were also impressed by DPD’s overall clean transport strategy, which has resulted in the company achieving its lowest carbon footprint yet, and extends beyond its vehicle fleet to include switching to renewable energy, waste recycling, recyclable packaging , eliminating single-use plastic, circular economy initiatives, food donations and partnerships with environmental organisations such as Forestry England.
Open to vehicle manufacturers, end-user brands and technology providers, the Clean Transport Award category included shortlisted entries from Carrier Global, CEVA Logistics, EVri, HIVED, Lidl Northern Ireland and McCulla, People, and John Lewis Partnership with Flexible Power Systems.
The Fleet Innovation of the Year Award, which recognises projects that have embraced digital data and cutting-edge technology to transform fleet management into a more agile, flexible, sustainable and safe operation, went to CheckedSafe for its Digital Compliance Software-as-a-Service platform.
The winning solution enables organisations to move from paper to digital for all compliance and healthy and safety requirements, providing a dynamic and contemporaneous record using a smartphone or tablet and a cloud-based back-office management tool.
The awards judges recognised the fact that, though initially set up for the transport and logistics sector, the platform has since been expanded into other HSE areas by CheckedSafe, and it has been specially developed to be cheaper than using paper in order to encourage adoption by the industry.
Open to vehicle manufacturers and/or technology suppliers on behalf of a client fleet manager, the Fleet Innovation of the Year Award also saw shortlisted entries from People, Nexus Vehicle Rental and John Lewis Partnership with Flexible Power Systems.
The third and final all-news transport category, the Smart Mobility Award, was won by DriverNet, a three-in-one platform that automates route planning and vehicle tracking to simplify driver and vehicle management.
Beating off competition from Nexus Vehicle Rental, DriverNet works for every type of transport operation and provides one solution to manage transport operations and make driver and vehicle admin processes more efficient.
Awards judges noted how DriverNet’s features minimise mileage and emissions on the road, thereby enabling customers to offer the most eco-friendly operations possible.
The Smart Mobility Award was open to companies and partners that are leveraging technology and innovation to manage multiple forms of transport in more efficient, resilient and sustainable ways, making best use of available capacity, ensuring continuous services despite disruptive incidents and encouraging the take-up of greener options.
This category therefore recognised projects that are allowing products to be moved in an efficient, timely and cost-effective way.
To learn more about the Supply Chain Excellence Awards and see the full list of this year’s winners, as well as those shortlisted, please visit www.supplychainexcellenceawards.com
