Supply Chain
Ocean Spray Slashes Costs, Emissions Through Logistics Collaboration

Ocean Spray Cranberries gained a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gases on top of a 40 percent savings in transportation costs by making smart process changes to one of its primary transportation and distribution routes, according to a new case study.

The study, conducted by the Center for Transportation & Logistics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT CTL), measured the sustainability improvements after Ocean Spray, a $2.2 billion agricultural cooperative and household-name fruit juice and food manufacturer, opened a new distribution center and partnered with a competitor to improve transportation efficiency.

Ocean Spray's first process change to reduce transportation costs, shave delivery distances and, ultimately, trim emissions, was to open a new distribution center in Florida, bringing product supply closer to demand. The company was looking for a more cost-efficient and environmentally sustainable way to transport finished products to the new distribution center, when they learned of a competing juice company’s New Jersey to Florida backhaul opportunity. Ocean Spray investigated whether it was possible to fill the competitor’s vacant railcars with Ocean Spray product already headed in that direction by truck.

Taking advantage of the backhaul opportunity involved working with a logistics partner as intermediary and coordinating shipments with each other’s schedules. With only a modest investment of time and money, Ocean Spray realized both financial and greenhouse gas emissions savings over a 12-month period:

• A shift of 80 percent of its freight traffic between New Jersey and Florida to a new rail route
• A 20 percent overall carbon footprint reduction in that lane
• An estimated 40 percent savings on transportation costs in that lane — about $200 per truckload
• A savings of 1,300 metric tons of carbon dioxide, a 68 percent reduction — contributing to the overall reduction of 20 percent identified by MIT — the equivalent to saving over 100,000 gallons of fuel

Companies regularly redesign their transportation networks to better serve their customers. These network adjustments usually translate into cost savings due to reduced mileage or the shifting of transportation modes. As the Ocean Spray case study demonstrates, such improvements also often result in significant CO2 emissions savings since they are related to the same drivers that reduce transportation costs: lower mileage and more fuel-efficient modes. Ocean Spray is so impressed with the overall benefits of logistics sustainability, it plans to include emissions-reduction methodologies in future transport and distribution plans.

Jason Mathers, Senior Manager, Supply Chain Logistics at Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), which sponsored the study, said, "Ocean Spray has shown that concrete and measurable sustainability results can be found within projects that were previously identified for cost savings only. We encourage all companies who identify cost-cutting opportunities within their logistics operations to also calculate potential emissions reductions to add greater overall value to their organizations."

According to a separate academic study, handling, storing and transporting goods in a shared network of manufacturers, retailers and transporters could boost U.S. profits by $100 billion and cut emissions by 33 percent.

@Bart_King is a freelance writer and communications consultant.