How FSEW is transforming the future of intermodal freight

Net Zero Industry Wales spoke to FSEW about their recent success in making low carbon transport commercially viable and helping clients to accelerate their efforts to reduce their carbon footprint across all modes of freight transportation.

Based in Wentloog, Cardiff, FSEW is a privately-owned freight forwarding company that is working to decarbonise the intermodal freight industry with its end to end solutions.

FSEW’s MD, Geoff Tomlinson launched the business in July 2002. He talked to us about how FSEW successfully decarbonised its fleet and its plans for the future.

Tell us about the changes you’re making at FSEW and your fleet

Five years ago, I set a target to make our fleet diesel free by 2025 and we achieved this ahead of schedule at the end of last year. We’ve replaced all diesel vehicles with a combination of fully electric and 100% biomethane trucks. This has resulted in 2.4 million carbon intensive ‘diesel kilometres’ being avoided by deploying our fleet of Ultra Low Emission Vehicles (ULEVs). Altogether, this has reduced our CO² emissions by 2,400 tonnes.

This just the beginning as we’re constantly striving to achieve more — we’re currently waiting for the delivery of five eActros 600 tractor units from Mercedes-Benz Trucks UK, which are due for delivery in May 2025. This will take us to 10 electric vehicles in operation.

We have also secured planning permission for a Low Carbon Freight Hub in Cardiff — the UK’s first — which will be powered entirely by renewable energy sources.  This 2.4 acre site will include four to eight truck chargers, and our new head office will be located here. We’re excited to bring this to Wales and demonstrate our efforts to  lead the way in decarbonisation.

How are you helping your clients to reduce their own carbon footprints?

We’re committed to providing end-to-end freight decarbonisation solutions for our clients globally. To achieve this, FSEW has recently launched an innovative new product: FSEW Greenflow.

FSEW Greenflow  supports our clients in reducing their carbon footprint in sea, air, road and rail freight. FSEW Greenflow does this through the use of transparent reporting and generating detailed and actionable emission reports. Using data and insights we can demonstrate how businesses can reduce Scope 3 emissions and achieve their CSR goals, which form a critical part of their sustainability strategy.  This is a gamechanger for the industry because we’re the first general freight forwarding provider to offer this. 

It represents  a major step forward and I’m proud that we’re leading the way by offering this across all modes of freight transportation.

Why is this all so important?

We all understand the importance of doing our bit to protect the planet and safeguard our childrens’ futures. One of the main routes FSEW uses through Cardiff has four schools nearby. Making road traffic cleaner and reducing air pollution for the future generations is critical, and we’re playing our part in trying to achieve this.

At FSEW we’ve reached a critical turning point; the changes we are making are a strategic shift to deliver efficient, greener freight solutions and lower carbon emissions for both FSEW and our customers. I’m proud to be working to change behaviours, collaborating with our peers, and establishing supply-chain emission transparency while still responding to market demands and maintaining the high levels of service we are known for.

We can’t do it on our own though, and I’m committed to sharing our journey with the freight sector and help make this the norm. I’m pleased to say that the freight sector is evolving but it’s not happening fast enough and I’m doing all I can to accelerate this work.

Find out more about FSEW here.