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With the help of a collaborative agreement, improved transportation efficiencyhelped Verso Paper reduce GHGs and costs

Driving Sustainability throughout the Supply Chain

By KATHI ROWZIE

With an ever-increasing marketplace focus onenvironmental sustainability, today’s papercustomers are looking to their suppliers notonly to improve environmental performance

at mills and other facilities, but also to drive sustainabilitythroughout the supply chain. As issues like greenhouse gas(GHG) production, global climate change and the carbon foot-print of products have taken center stage, paper producers arelooking beyond the more traditional avenues of environmentalimprovement to find new and innovative ways to help cus-tomers meet their sustainability goals.

One often overlooked but highly effective way to reducegreenhouse gas emissions and reduce carbon footprint is toimprove transportation efficiency of raw materials. Verso PaperCorp., one of North America’s leading manufacturers of coatedmagazine and catalog papers, worked toward this end and itsefforts have paid off. Verso collaborated with its strategic sup-ply chain partner, Safe Handling, Inc., to re-engineer itsapproach to chemical transport, reduce resulting greenhousegas emissions that contribute to climate change by up to 90%and reduce transport costs by up to 50%.

Transportation Opportunity

From a forest-to-customer lifecycle perspective, it’s true thatmill emissions account for most of the greenhouse gas emis-sions associated with Verso’s magazine and catalog papers, buttransportation emissions are not insignificant. In 2006, the H.John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and theEnvironment published a study, Following the Paper Trail, thatlooked at carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions across the completelifecycle of TIME Magazine. Verso is one of TIME’s primary sup-pliers. The study, which found that 1.17 tons of CO2 are emittedfor each ton of TIME produced, confirmed that mill emissionsare the primary contributor of CO2 at 61%, with transportationof raw and finished materials coming in second at 17%. Inaddition to its contribution to GHG emissions, transportationalso may represent up to 10% of the cost of material such asspecialty chemicals.

“Verso has reduced greenhouse gas emissions from our millsby 28 percent over the last 10 years and we continue to implementenergy efficiency strategies to achieve further reductions,” saysVerso Vice President for Sustainability Craig Liska, “but our cus-

tomers expect us to work beyond our own boundaries to reducethe carbon footprint of the paper they buy from us. They havetheir own carbon reduction goals and objectives and know that ifthey are to achieve them, Verso must step up to the plate withinnovative carbon-reduction strategies that will contribute to theirsuccess. The results of Heinz Center study made it clear thatimproved transportation efficiency presented a prime opportuni-ty for further GHG reductions. As we explored the possibilities, ourpartnership with Safe Handling was born.”

Safe Handling is a Maine-based, bulk transport company thatspecializes in rail-to-truck transloading and toll processing. Thecompany operates large rail-to-truck transloading facilities in NewEngland and Pennsylvania and has ISO 9001:2000-certified tollprocessing facilities where dry chemicals are blended with waterfor regional delivery. “When looking for ways to reduce greenhousegas emissions and reduce the carbon footprint of paper products,transportation of raw materials is something that often falls ➤

David Refkin, Time Inc: "...innovative ideas to improveenergy efficiency will become even more critical."

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through the cracks,” says Safe Handling President Ford Reiche.“Transportation is arranged for by the supplier and paid for by thepaper mill, but there is typically little collaboration to improve effi-ciency. Verso’s partnership with Safe Handling is a great example ofhow innovative thinking and greater focus on the entire supplychain is changing that model.”

Transportation Approach

Verso and Safe Handling use a three-pronged approach that com-bines multi-modal transportation, distributed manufacturing andhighly efficient trucks to achieve both improved environmentalperformance and lower shipping costs. “Our goal is to reducegreenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change byreaching the highest level of transportation efficiency possible,”Liska says. “The first step is selecting the most fuel-efficient modesof transportation available” (see Figure 1).

For Verso, this means replacing long-haul trucking with railtransport, which uses 70% less fuel per ton of freight shipped.“Each rail car we use prevents some 13 tons of carbon dioxide(CO2) emissions – the annual equivalent of taking nearly twoautomobiles off the road,” Liska explains. “While we stillreceive most of our chemical deliveries by truck, most of eachtrip – from the chemical supplier to the toll processing facility– is by rail.”

“Verso achieves additional GHG emission reductions andcost savings through what is known as distributed manufactur-ing,” says Reiche. “Instead of transporting chemicals to Verso inliquid form over long distances by truck, we transport them dryby rail to our toll processing facilities. There we add water toreconstitute the chemicals to liquid form, in effect, a second

manufacturing step. Transporting chemicals in dry versus wetform reduces freight by about 75% for a chemical that is 25%solids,” he explains.

Once the chemicals are reconstituted in liquid form, theyare loaded onto trucks and delivered a short distance to thepoint of use, from Safe Handling’s toll processing facility inAuburn, ME, to Verso's mill in Jay, ME, for example. “SafeHandling uses highly efficient three-axle trailers to deliverchemicals to Verso instead of traditional two-axle trailers,”Liska says. “This provides a significant fuel efficiency advan-tage, Figure 2. One rail car can be downloaded to three trucksinstead of four, saving more than 30% on fuel. This results inboth lower GHG emissions and costs.

In addition, Safe Handling’s trucks are equipped with state-of-the-art, GPS-enabled computers that allow them to monitor andmanage everything from idle time to excessive speed. “Thisallows us to optimize our fuel efficiency,” explains Andy Meyer,

Safe Handling’s vice president of sustainability.“For every hour per day of idling we eliminate inour fleet, our emissions are reduced by 90 tons ofCO2 per year – the equivalent of taking 15 auto-mobiles off the road.” Safe Handling participatesin the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s(EPA) SmartWay® Transportation Partnership,which has ranked the company’s trucking effi-ciency as “outstanding.” The company also is cer-tified to the ISO 14001:2004 environmental man-agement system standard and participates in theAmerican Chemistry Council’s Responsible Care initiative.

The Collaborative Process

To determine how to achieve optimal GHGemission reductions and cost savings, Verso andSafe Handling worked together to review all

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FIGURE 1.

Fuel efficiency

Verso and Safe Handling have uncovered a way to reduce specialty chemical transportation-related GHG emissions by

up to 90% and transportation costs by up to 50%.

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chemicals used at Verso’s four paper mills in Jay andBucksport, ME, Quinnesec, MI, and Sartell, MN. "Weevaluated every chemical that gets shipped to ourmills, looking at the point of origin, final destination,transport distance, transportation mode and the per-cent of solids in each chemical,” Liska, says. “Then,using a transportation carbon calculator developedby Safe Handling, we were able to quickly identifygame-changing opportunities.”

Using the transportation carbon calculator, Versoand Safe Handling identified three specialty chemi-cals with the highest potential for transportationemission reductions and cost savings. A team wasassigned to each of the three products and thedetailed work of revamping the transportationprocess began. “We worked with chemical suppliersand railroads to quantify potential emission reduc-tions and costs savings and develop timelines forimplementation,” says Reiche. Verso translated thisre-engineered shipping approach into action in 2007.

Outstanding Results

“We couldn’t be more pleased with the greenhouse gas emis-sion reductions and cost savings we’ve achieved from thiseffort so far,” Liska says. “Last year, we reduced GHG emissionsby 94% for the transport of the three chemicals shipped usingthis new approach. That’s approximately 766 tons of CO2 – theequivalent of taking 128 automobiles off the road each year. Inaddition, the improved efficiency of using rail versus truck forlong-haul transport is saving critical dollars as volatile fuelcosts continue to threaten our bottom line. As we expand thisapproach to other chemicals, those emission reductions andcost savings will continue to multiply.”

Compared with other, more complex and capital intensiveopportunities for reducing the carbon footprint of paperproducts, improving transportation efficiency representslow-hanging fruit for manufacturers like Verso. “The old plan-et versus profit debate is no longer valid, at least where transportation logistics are concerned,” Reiche says. “As theconcern about global climate change continues to grow andfuel costs continue to climb, past transportation analysesneed to be updated with a focus on the location of sourcematerials, the proximity of end use and mode of transporta-tion. Verso’s example makes it clear that focusing on supplychain logistics enables environmentally responsible compa-nies to reduce their carbon footprint and cut costs at thesame time,” he adds.

It’s clear that paper buyers like Verso’s magazine and catalogcustomers are looking to do business with suppliers that arecommitted to sustainable business practices, and climate

change has quickly joined sustainable forestry and environ-mentally responsible mill operations as a key issue of concern.

“We congratulate Verso Paper and Safe Handling for theirleadership roles in developing practical transportation solu-tions focused on sustainability,” says Time Inc. Director ofSustainable Development David Refkin. “In the future, whencarbon is monetized and energy supplies are more con-strained, innovative ideas to improve energy efficiency willbecome even more critical to both the bottom line of all com-panies and to the health of our planet.”

“While climate change is a complex matter that presentsmany challenges, there are also many opportunities for the paperand forest products industry to support our customers and take aleadership role in its mitigation,” Liska concludes. “As we searchfor solutions, it’s important that we not get so focused on thecomplexities that we overlook those opportunities within easyreach, like improved transportation efficiency.” P&P

For more information on Verso, please visit www.versopaper.com.For more information on Safe Handling, Inc., please visit www.safehandling.com.

KATHI ROWZIE is a sustainability communications consul-tant in Memphis, TN.

FIGURE 2.

Three-axle trailers are more efficient than conventional two-axle rigs

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