Mercedes goes green on rail in Germany, Hungary

Mercedes-Benz Cars is switching to CO2-free transport by rail in Germany and Austria. The production equipment for the Mercedes-Benz passenger car is now transported by rail on green electricity, in the case of factories in Germany and the factory in Kecskemét, Hungary.

The switch applies to the Mercedes-Benz factories in Bremen, Rastatt, Sindelfingen, Hamburg, Kuppenheim, Untertürkheim and MDC Power GmbH in Kölleda, Germany, as well as for the factory in Kecskemét in Hungary. It was realised in cooperation with Deutsche Bahn.

Important criteria

“Sustainability has always been an integral part of the global production network of Mercedes-Benz Cars. Reducing CO2 is one of our main concerns, which we systematically implement in more than thirty of our factories, as well as in our logistics network. Our goal is a sustainable and environmentally friendly transport mix in our entire worldwide logistics network. The conversion to CO 2 -free rail transport is an important step in this direction”, said Jörg Burzer, Member of the Board of Directors of Mercedes-Benz AG and responsible for production and supply chain management.

The green energy that the company uses for rail transport in Germany and Austria, comes exclusively from local, renewable energy sources. Currently, it will mainly be generated in hydropower plants. “In addition to costs, transit time and transport quality, the focus of our logistics concepts is on CO2 emissions. Sustainability is an important criterion when selecting our logistics service providers – this ranges from the use of environmentally friendly equipment to the deployment of low-emission trucks in accordance with the latest Euro standard or with alternative drive technology”, says Elke Pusskeiler, Head of Supply Chain Management at Mercedes-Benz Cars.