Transport & mobility

Development of sustainable logistics solutions

In 2017, Migros formed a partnership with the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science & Technology (Empa) with the aim of expediting green solutions for the transport of goods, such as new drive concepts with low CO2 emissions.

As a founding member of the national generational project Cargo Sous Terrain (CTS), Migros made a commitment, among other things, to creating a positive basis for the launch of the legislative process at federal level.

From road to rail

In 2017, SBB Cargo's goods wagons covered 13.3 million km in domestic freight traffic for the Migros Group. 1.4 million tonnes of freight was transported by rail. Overview of progress:

In Cooperative Retailing, Migros remains the number one for rail freight in terms of turnover. About half of all shipments between M-Industry companies and the national and regional Migros distribution centres are sent by rail.

In the reporting year, the Migros Cooperative Eastern Switzerland began the process of switching all shipments to rail that are sent from the Migros distribution centre in Neuendorf (MVN) to to the operations centre in Gossau (MVN). Before the switch, the share of rail was about 65%.

In 2017, the Migros Distribution Centre in Suhr (MVS) worked with SBB Cargo to make process changes in order to optimally control the flow of goods sent by rail. As a result, rail capacity in the incoming goods department was increased by up to 43% – this corresponds to about 240,000 additional pallets per year.

The Migros Group's total rail freight increased by 2'500 rail wagons in comparison with the previous year.

Resource-friendly lorry transport

In 2017, 96% of kilometres driven (lorry fleet of the Migros Cooperatives and Saviva) were covered by low-emission lorries that meet the strict Euro 5 or Euro 6 emission standards. This enabled carbon dioxide and fine dust emissions to be reduced even further. With clever planning, fuel-efficient driving and use of "biodiesel" (fuel made from waste and by-products), CO2 emissions are also being cut continuously.

Since the reporting year, Migros has been working with the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science & Technology (Empa) to expedite green solutions for the transport of goods. The aim is to conduct research into new drive concepts with low CO2 emissions in the coming years and develop a fleet strategy.

Combining research with practice helps Migros to switch its vehicle fleet to state-of-the-art low-CO2 lorries. At the same time, the Empa platform "move" benefits from Migros' hands-on experience and expertise.

In 2017, the Migros Cooperative Zurich acquired an electric 12 t lorry and thus took the first steps towards renewable solutions for the vehicle fleet. The second lorry will be put into operation this year. In order to optimise the use of the vehicle fleet capacity even further, Migros is collaborating with the online transport portal Pickwings. The formalities of the partnership will be agreed this year.

Migros invests in electromobility

Migros is committed to environmentally friendly private transport and is a proponent of electromobility. In the reporting year, it decided to expand its network of parking spaces with electric charging stations to 200 by the end of 2019. By the end of 2017, customers at 30 Migros branches were able to charge their e-cars at a total of 96 parking spaces. Migros therefore offers more publicly accessible charging stations for electric cars than any other Swiss retailer.