Supermarkets 'are focusing on cutting down product transportation'

Date: 8/3/2010

Cutting down on the environmental costs of transporting products is a serious consideration for UK supermarkets, according to the vice-president of a company that advises most of the five major supermarkets.

Richard Traish, vice-president of Kurt Salmon Associates UK said that there is a trend among supermarkets towards localisation.

He added: "From a cost and an environmental issue it's clear that as we've seen recently with M&S again and others going quite public about how seriously they are taking the whole environmental issue and the transport aspect of that is an important component, which again is going to apply a pressure there to try and see if we can do things closer to home."

Food retailers have already reduced their transportation costs over the past few years.

According to international food and grocery expert IGD, 124 million HGV miles have been taken off UK roads as part of an initiative by supermarkets to save diesel and reduce carbon emissions.

This is the equivalent of taking 2,000 lorries off Britain's roads, saving as much as 60 million litres of diesel every year.