Blue Paper is breaking new ground by taking the initiative to use the river to transport its reels of recycled paper. In partnership with Voies Navigables de France (VNF) and the Port Autonome de Strasbourg (PAS), we are embarking on an ambitious multimodal transport project on the Rhine aimed at reducing our carbon footprint. The Rhine, often referred to as “Europe’s river motorway”, stretches for more than 1,200 km, providing an ideal network for less polluting transport.
For this project, called Blue River, we selected three customers located in Germany, close to the Rhine, who immediately embraced this eco-responsible approach. Last October, the first full-scale test was successfully carried out: the reels of paper, loaded into containers, were shipped by barge from Strasbourg. After a two-day journey of around 420 kilometres, they arrived in Duisburg, Europe’s largest river port, where they were then transported by truck for the final leg of their journey.
Thanks to this pilot project, Blue Paper managed to reduce CO₂ emissions by 50% compared with traditional road transport, according to VNF data. This new approach demonstrates Blue Paper’s commitment to promoting sustainable logistics solutions, once again placing the reduction of the environmental impact of our business at the heart of our everyday concerns.
