Fyffes: Committed to Sustainable Logistics Procurement

Collaboration is quickly becoming procurement’s most effective lever for decarbonising complex supply chains.

A recent cross-industry effort involving DP World, MAN Truck & Bus, Maersk and Fyffes demonstrates how coordinated sourcing, data-rich SLAs and fit-for-purpose equipment can lower emissions without compromising cold-chain performance.

Electrifying delivery

DP World has been scaling its Low Carbon Truck Programme into live operations, piloting electric trucks in the delivery of bananas. 

In a recent milestone, the logistics provider delivered a Fyffes banana container from its Southampton terminal to Basingstoke using an MAN eTGX electric truck.

Nicholas Mazzei, Vice President of Sustainability at DP World, shared the news: “Yesterday, from our Southampton terminal to Basingstoke, we delivered Fyffes their container of bananas fully electric.

“And, in perhaps what is the most impeccable timing, it all happened while I attended a working session on decarbonisation of supply chains and road transport with the WBCSD – World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

“Just as I was discussing our work with TRATON GROUP CSO Andreas Follér, I got a message from Dave Munday in our UK logistics team that we had successfully delivered the container by using the MAN Truck & Bus SE eTGX.”

For procurement leaders, this achievement serves as proof that zero-emission delivery can be integrated into time-sensitive, temperature-controlled flows when partners coordinate contracting, scheduling and charging windows.

Controlled and connected

Fyffes, the world’s largest importer of Fairtrade-certified bananas, must balance product quality, timing and cost.

Its partnership with Maersk is designed around those priorities, with optimised shipping routes and specialty temperature-controlled containers with live monitoring maintaining quality and predictability.

Maersk’s cold-chain portfolio includes StarCare and StarRipe containers.

StarRipe adds a controlled ripening function embedded within the container’s atmosphere. Suppliers can set parameters such as temperature, oxygen and carbon dioxide to match customer requirements, and ripening can be automatically activated to deliver the desired maturity upon opening.

Michaela Steineker, Senior Business Development Manager at Maersk, adds: “We have been ripening bananas on the move for some time now, so it is no longer a question of whether it works – now it is about sitting together with our customers and finding how this technology best fits into their processes and their supply chain."

The equipment shift

On the road transport side, MAN Truck & Bus is pushing toward battery-electric commercial vehicles to meet climate goals and operational expectations.

The MAN eTGX used in the DP World move is designed for longer distances, supports charging up to 750 kW, and can recharge during typical 45-minute driver breaks, enabling an operational scope of up to 350 kilometres.

This aligns well with common port-to-distribution-centre legs in European cold chains.

Nicholas continues: "Making the EV transition happen can't be done by any one company. It took MAN, Maersk, Fyffes and DP World to make this happen. But the key is that it did happen and it will happen more and more."

The outcome of this partnership – bananas delivered in peak condition with materially lower emissions – shows electrification is not only viable, but ready to be embedded across cold chains when procurement convenes the right partners, contracts for verifiable outcomes and scales what works.