Corporate Social Responsibility Report 2021

In our CSR Policy, we have formulated our CSR action areas (identified and based on the above mentioned approach). It is our ambition to draw up a CSR report on a yearly basis in order to assess our business activities thoroughly and to track implementation and results so adverse impacts can be ceased, prevented or mitigated. We use the GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards to provide a balanced view on our sustainability performance.

Click here for our CSR Policy.

In 2021, a new board of directors took office at Broekman Logistics, taking over from the previous board which served almost a decade in its last formation. In their capacity of CEO (Rik Pek) and CFO (Nicolas Parey), they are tasked with navigating Broekman Logistics’ global organization through international waters.

Staying true to its mission, Broekman Logistics set out to continue delivering sustainable value for its clients by designing and operating tailored supply chain solutions. In 2021, the challenge was to deliver on this promise in the midst of a rather tough global environment: Different variants of Covid-19 continued causing health threats, international trade remained significantly out of balance, global freight forwarding and shipping markets were heavily disrupted, and the supply of skilled labor was scarce.

Apart from attending to the external challenges, we continued to strengthen operational excellence in our different divisions, being able to continue to meet the demands of the current century in a responsible manner.

We provide global logistics solutions through our own locations in the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, China and India and through our Broekman Networks partners' presence in 170+ countries (see this page for more info). Our international offices, being seventeen in India, four in Poland, one in the Czech Republic and one in China, are part of our International Freight Forwarding division. 

To meet current and future market demands, our international offices are constantly expanding their infrastructure. For example, at Broekman India, the Pune office was relocated, the Coimbatore office expanded, offices in Chennai were added or renovated, and several resident representative offices were added. Also, Broekman Poland changed its Komorowo and Warsaw location to Wyszków and Błonie.

Corporate Social Responsibility is very important for our international offices; for example our Indian offices fall under CSR government programs, which means that our offices have a CSR committee to carry out activities prescribed per OECD Guidelines and effectively monitor the progress of these activities.

The main direct climate impact of our offices is in the energy supplies (primarily electricity) for the offices and business travel. At the same time Broekman Logistics is aiming to reduce the impact by lowering energy consumption and looking at the possibilities of using renewable energy (e.g. solar energy) and electric vehicles.

However, the largest climate impact is in indirect emissions in supply chains (outsourced transport). We arrange sea, road, rail, air and multimodal transport on behalf of our clients. Our ambition is to better identify and reduce emissions by advising our clients on the use of lower-impact transport methods (e.g. more multimodal/ intermodal, consolidated, sea, inland waterways, rail).

If we look at the accompanying data, most of our energy needs consist of diesel (mainly at our breakbulk terminals) and electricity. During 2021, the Broekman Distriport terminal replaced ten diesel forklifts with forklifts powered by CO2 compensated propane gas, one medium lift truck was replaced for an electric version and six new eco-efficient reachstackers were put into service. We also continued to work on reducing energy by rolling out LED lighting at our Distriport and Europoort locations.

Next to this, we started updating the energy labels of our office locations to meet at least energy label C in preparation for the legal obligation in 2023. Through our lease car policy, we continue to encourage the use of electric and hybrid cars. And, we expect to make significant progress in the coming years regarding the energy transition by integrating more renewable energy and by electrifying mobile machinery.
 

We consider it a matter of course to collect the waste released in our daily operations as separately as possible. We collect and dispose of A and B wood, plastics, paper and cardboard and metals separately. By sorting properly at source, we ensure that the residual fraction is as small as possible and that as much waste as possible is given a second life. This keeps materials in the cycle and reduces the need to extract scarce raw materials, a crucial step in building a circular economy.

Looking at our waste stream analysis, 78% is currently separated at source (up from 73% in 2020) and we are aiming for >80% by 2025. Paper and cardboard, wood and metals are the largest waste streams. Where possible, we use it directly in the services we provide. Broekman Distriport, one of our breakbulk terminals, reuses wood when loading vessels. And Broekman India’s warehouse in Bangalore maintains a 'zero' waste concept by reusing as many packaging materials as possible. Waste is a valuable resource!

We ensure a healthy and safe work environment to prevent incidents and accidents and promote the overall health of both own and hired-in employees, where at the same time our aim is to keep absenteeism to a minimum. To this end, policies, work instructions and safety regulations are in force at all sites. We inform and motivate our employees so that they are aware of this and can actively participate.

A fraction of our businesses best practices:

• Broekman Academy where employees are trained and tested on health and safety issues such as the latest safety manual, emergency procedure and major accident prevention policy;
• Continuous improvement of Life-Saving Rules;
• Behaviour-based safety project started including training(s);
• QSPL (Quality, Security, Prevention, Legal) tool in which incidents, deviations and adverse events are reported and followed up;
• 5S (as part of Lean Six Sigma methodology) implemented to enhance work place safety and to eliminate waste;
• Forklifts equipped with blue spot technology (visual warning signal);
• Separation of traffic flows (e.g. clear walkways).

A fantastic example is that our Broekman Logistics Limburg location organized a 5S competition resulting in even more efficient, organized and safe workplaces. Great team effort!

As a global supply chain solutions provider, we recognise the importance and feel the need to take care of the environment in which we operate. We support local initiatives and collaborate with many stakeholders in the local areas of our offices, terminals, and warehouses. Through a 'think global, act local' mindset, we actively work together to reach each other's goals and to create value for society as a whole.

After a year of absence, several initiatives were able to take place again. We supported and actively participated in the Word Port Days and in local sport events such as the Harbour Run and the Harbour Tour. We also attended the Mainport Talents Dinner to meet new port talents and show that the port is a great place to work. Next to this, we organized our annual customer event the Taste of Summer again and we hosted a great family day at our Broekman Project Terminal.

We encouraged colleagues to donate their Christmas gift to charity. As a result, we donated a nice amount to the Erasmus MC Sophia Foundation (in Dutch: Stichting Vrienden van het Sophia). Sophia is a leading children's hospital in Rotterdam. This foundation does everything to make the children's stay in the hospital as pleasant as possible and contributes to the financing of scientific research and innovative projects.

As a fully-fledged logistics service provider we take care of everything that comes with global transportation, ranging from raw materials to finished goods. We always aim to shorten value chains and continuously unburden our customers in terms of transportation and the flow of documents.

Our services consist of:

• Forwarding & Shipping: Forwarding provides freight forwarding services including value added services such as organising the flow of documents (customs/VAT) and Shipping represents more than 10 liner services offering worldwide ocean transport;
• Warehousing & Distribution: carrying out inbound & outbound distribution, import and export as well as value added logistics such as packaging, labelling and assembly of products;
• Breakbulk Terminals: handling, storage and packaging of breakbulk cargo as well as providing solutions in markets that require complex logistics. For instance, parts of wind turbines.

Lately, the Pharmaceutical market has shown a significant increase in demand for the storage of products which are not only classified as GDP (medicines and active substances) but also as dangerous (ADR) goods. Current supply in the market provides ample facilities for GDP warehousing, but combined expertise of large-scale hazardous goods and GDP certificated storage is less commonly available. When Alloga, a leader in Healthcare Logistics, was looking for such a solution, Broekman Logistics was there to assist and realize a suitable solution within a year.

To comply with the law and regulations, Broekman Logistics had a wholesale license to store medicines and active substances (APIs). To obtain such a wholesale license, Broekman Logistics had to meet the requirements for Good Distribution Practices (GDP), including suitable storage facilities (15-25 C°), an adequate quality system, procedures and specially trained personnel.

In parallel, the Broekman Logistics’ airfreight forwarding professionals in Amsterdam and the ocean freight forwarding experts in the Broekman Logistics branch offices in India have obtained a similar GDP certification in order to unburden our clients’ complete supply chain.

HG, the market leader in the Benelux for cleaning products, decided to move the warehousing and value-added services to an external location. Broekman Logistics Venlo has been chosen as the best strategic fit based on the location's characteristics and broad experience in handling specialty chemical products.       

"Outsourcing a part of our supply chain is a big step for us" says Jeroen Mustert, CEO at HG. He continues: "We have always decided to keep the supply chain in our own hands as much as possible. This is to have optimal control over the production process. However, in line with safety rules and regulations and our growth ambitions, the option to outsource certain aspects of the supply chain became increasingly attractive. It took time to find the right partner who could provide solutions to the processes, standards and service levels we maintain. In the end we found our partner and location in Broekman Logistics Venlo."

When setting up the Broekman Logistics warehouse in Venlo, safety was a top priority for all suppliers involved, including Motrac for the necessary logistics equipment. "We comply here with the European ADR guidelines for hazardous materials and GDP guidelines for the storage of medicines" mentions Noud Prince, Project manager at Broekman Logistics. He continues: "This warehouse was built with future growth in mind and has an expansion capacity of 30.000 m2 of floor space, as the demand for storage of hazardous materials and merchandise continues to increase. For the storage and order picking of all our customers' products on pallets, in boxes and in unit packages, we have invested in forklifts, order picking trucks, pallet trucks, reach trucks and narrow aisle trucks from Linde. Broekman Logistics has worked with Motrac for this because Linde trucks offer the right quality and safety features for our company."

All Linde trucks in the Broekman Logistics warehouse in Venlo are equipped with a seat belt, BlueSpot and camera system for the safety of the drivers and to prevent accidents. "Because customers' products are stored in different compartments, there are many passages here" explains Prince. "Therefore, Linde's BlueSpot is a useful visual warning signal for our warehouse workers to avoid unsafe situations with other trucks and pedestrians. Furthermore, Dynamic Mast Control, Active Stability Control and cameras on the trucks help to safely put away and pick full pallets at a great height. In addition to the mentioned safety features, the flexible configuration options, ease of use and driving comfort of the Linde trucks are important selection criteria and benefits for our company."

DSV, one of the world's largest transportation and logistics companies and also one of our 4PL partners, has a strong focus on improving Environmental, Social and Governance performance and is actively working to make supply chains more sustainable and reduce the environmental footprint of its own operations.

DSV is committed to the Science Based Targets Initiative, in which it has set ambitious goals to reduce its emissions by 2030. This involves both emissions in the own operations (scope 1 and 2) and emissions within supply chains (scope 3). As a transport and logistics company, most emissions are in scope 3 and that is where the main challenge lies.

In this context, DSV initiated the Green Logistics concept in 2021. Besides always focusing on services such as consolidation, load optimization and mode shifting, it is important to look a step further. This includes looking at CO2 reporting, strategic optimization of the supply chain, as well as solutions such as offsetting emissions and using sustainable fuels. Cooperation is essential here, so that emissions within supply chains can be addressed and joint reductions achieved!