Burning forests and devastating droughts in the south, cataclysmic storms and disastrous floods in the north, and melting polar caps at both ends of the earth: the signs of global warming. One of the main causes is the unchecked output of carbon dioxide, most of it anthropogenic or produced by mankind, as reported in the UN's IPCC report on climate change in early 2007. The report forecasts a dramatic and dangerous rise in temperature and sea levels in the decades ahead. OTTO International sees the reduction of CO2 emissions as a mandate.
Our entire delivery chain is continually reviewed with regard to economic and ecological aspects. For instance, transporting goods by air from, say, Asia to Germany, is quick but relatively expensive and environmentally damaging. The example of a single T-shirt shows how much carbon dioxide is emitted in the transport of goods: it takes six days to send cargo by air from Hong Kong to Frankfurt am Main/Germany. In the process, over two kilos of carbon dioxide are emitted per T-shirt. Transporting the goods by container ship takes about 23 days, but generates only 0.13 kilos of carbon dioxide emissions per shirt.
For this reason, we strive to ensure that most of the goods we transport are conveyed by ship or by combined sea-air transport. Apart from the ecological component, this mode of transport also has a clear economic advantage: according to a review of the years 2000 to 2003, OTTO alone cut its transport costs by 2.16 million euros.