Toyota Motor Europe (TME) has presented its prestigious 2025 Sustainability Achievement Award to United European Car Carriers (UECC) in honor of the shipping company’s efforts to significantly reduce the logistics carbon footprint of the leading automotive manufacturer.

“It is a great honor to receive this coveted award from a highly valued customer with which we have had a long-term collaboration stretching back more than three decades,” said UECC’s CEO Glenn Edvardsen after receiving the award from TME's Vice President Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Ms. Monica Perez Lobo.

The award was presented at TME’s recent annual business meeting in Brussels, attended by more than 500 people including staff and suppliers.

‘Power of partnership’

“This truly demonstrates the power of partnership in achieving our common sustainability goals by accelerating the decarbonization of shipping to deliver mutually beneficial environmental and commercial gains through progressive reductions in CO2 emissions,” Edvardsen says.

“UECC is extremely proud to offer its customers a product that enables them to ship their cargoes in a carbon-neutral way, actively removing CO2 from their logistics supply chain.”

As Europe’s leading provider of sustainable shortsea RoRo transportation, UECC is transporting vehicles on its fleet of eco-friendly PCTCs (pure car and truck carriers) from all of TME’s manufacturing plants in Europe to numerous European ports.

Last year, the company carried several hundred thousand Toyota vehicles in Europe and more than 50,000 of the Toyota vehicles were transported carbon-neutrally.

This has been achieved to a large degree through TME’s participation in the Sail for Change environmental initiative in which liquefied biomethane (LBM) is being bunkered on UECC’s five dual and multi-fuel LNG PCTCs, three of which are also equipped with hybrid battery power to further optimize energy efficiency.

Big impact on Scope 3 emissions

TME aims to reduce CO2 emissions from its supply chain by 33% by 2030 from a 2019 baseline as part of the company’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality across its purchased goods and services - and all of its logistics operations by 2040 – for which it is dependent on collaboration with sustainable suppliers.

The car maker is among 11 leading automotive companies involved in the Drive Sustainability initiative to boost sustainability across the supply chain by developing common standards and compliance tools to tackle four key challenges together with suppliers - carbon neutrality, sustainable raw materials, workforce wellbeing and a circular value chain.

Consequently, TME has clearly defined sustainable purchasing guidelines for selection of logistics suppliers based on strict criteria related to environmental considerations, respect for human rights and legal compliance.

“We see UECC as a pathfinder that is pushing the boundaries for sustainable operations in European shortsea RoRo transport and demonstrating industry leadership in sustainable shipping,” says TME's Vice President Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Ms. Monica Perez Lobo.

Raising game for decarbonization

UECC is stepping up its efforts to further reduce the carbon footprint of its fleet with investments in additional eco-friendly vessels and development of alternative fuels towards its goal of a 45% reduction in carbon intensity by 2030 versus a 2014 baseline and net-zero operations by 2040, both ahead of IMO and EU targets, according to Energy & Sustainability Manager Daniel Gent.

The company has on order two newbuild multi-fuel battery hybrid PCTCs due for delivery in 2028 that will increase its fleet to seven such units after five similar deliveries within the past decade, having also recently taken the dual-fuel LNG newbuild Blue Aspire into its fleet.

“As well as these investments, we have been a first-mover with adoption of biofuels and are now expanding the use of alternative fuels such as LBM - as well as screening potential new fuels for technical, commercial and environmental viability - to achieve substantial emissions gains from current operations,” Gent says.

“Working in alignment with the needs of our customers, we are promoting low-carbon ship transport to protect our planet while exceeding compliance and mitigating costs exposure under the green regulatory regime with EU ETS and FuelEU Maritime - and the TME award reflects this,” Gent concludes.

For more information contact:
Bjorn Svenningsen
Director of Sales and Marketing, UECC
Email: bsv@uecc.com
Phone: +47 90 16 04 55

UECC’s CEO Glenn Edvardsen receives the award from TME's Vice President Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Ms. Monica Perez Lobo. Photo: UECC