Decarbonizing Logistics in Lower Income Countries (Part 2)

The aim here is to maximize the loading of vehicles within legal limits and to curb the overloading of vehicles, a practice that is much more widespread in LMICs than in more developed countries and carries a significant carbon penalty. Available evidence suggests that the percentage of truck-kms run empty is also higher in LMICs, though a lack of macro-level utilization statistics makes such international comparisons difficult. Eleven causes of vehicle under-utilization are identified and their relevance to LMICs assessed. The reasons for the over-loading problem are also analysed. A combination of processes and policies, including digitalization, supply chain collaboration, relaxation of truck size and weight limits and tougher enforcement of over-loading regulation, are strongly advocated as means of making vehicle loading more carbon-efficient.

Available evidence suggests that energy consumption per truck-km and per tonne-km is much higher in LMICs than in North America and Europe. This is attributable mainly to fleets being older and less well-maintained, poorer road infrastructure, under-skilling of drivers, diesel fuel subsidies and under-capitalisation of the freight sector. According to the International Energy Agency, 70% of new truck sales in 2022 were in countries with legal fuel-economy / CO2 standards for new vehicles. A large proportion of freight vehicles in LMICs are imported second-hand after being operated in the US, Europe and Japan for 5-6 years or more. This delays the international diffusion of energy-saving technologies. In the meantime, driver training, improved maintenance, retrofitting of existing vehicles with fuel-saving devices and re-scheduling deliveries to off-peak periods, among other things, can substantially cut energy use and emissions.

In the short-to-medium term, the energy transition for trucks will be to biofuels, though the supply of environmentally sustainable varieties of these fuels is very limited in most LMICs. In the longer term, truck fleets worldwide will be decarbonised mainly by batteries recharged with low carbon electricity. This transition is likely to take much longer in LMICs because of the initial concentration of e-truck sales in the Global North, LMIC’s heavy reliance on imports of used trucks, the under-capitalisation of their haulage businesses and the slower development of their charging infrastructure. The decarbonisation of grid electricity in many of these countries will also be slower, though those in the tropics have good potential to ‘micro-generate’ renewable electricity using solar panels on the roofs of warehouses to charge batteries and power intra-logistics operations.