Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1512356
10 INTERVIEW 30.11.2023 PAUL COCKS You have been at the helm of Express Trailers for a few months now. What have been your biggest takeaways from your experience so far? Express Trailers is more than just an ordinary business. We take pride in our work to deliver goods to our customers, and community and to support our busi- ness partners in all their transport and logistics requirements, the complexity of which is often underestimated or taken for granted. How would you define your leadership style? e success of any company is not about the type of leadership style, but how peo- ple at the helm interact and communicate with employees, stakeholders, and the general public. Nevertheless, I believe that good governance is the main and fundamental principle that drives the business towards success. You are establishing yourself as a firm advocate for ESG principles, particularly in terms of sustainability. At Express Trailers, we are constantly refining the balance between giving our people the best tools of trade and our commitment to ESG requirements be- cause today, more than ever, investment decisions have developed into a com- plex need to balance excellent customer services with environmental considera- tions. e increase in fuel prices across Europe driven mainly by pricing costs, inflation, international political upheav- al and now recently, the developments concerning rising shipping costs con- tinue to force us to reengineer our strat- egy and model which led to better fuel efficiency and ultimately, a reduction of CO 2 emissions. How challenging is it to operate more sustainably when your business depends on road and sea transport? Our fleet has always been our largest in- vestment and we have constantly invest- ed very strongly in it. Today however, we not only invest in a fleet that meets our clients' requirements but in one that helps us honour our commitment to operate more sustainably because as things stand, operating sustainably is the only way for- ward. Can you take us through the company's major investments in this area? is heightened investment in our fleet started three years ago with the first ten new temperature-controlled trailers ac- quired in 2021, equipped with the next generation cooling units and that featured an all-electric design that significantly improved performance and efficiency. Another new fleet of ten Euro 6 trucks acquired in December of 2022 was rolled out in January of this year. is was a very interesting investment because we con- tributed our long years of experience and cooperated with the truck manufacturers to ensure that these new vehicles were optimised according to our specific op- erations. Together with this, we also held specialised driving courses by profession- al instructors for our 50+ drivers on how to drive better and more efficiently. All the above has helped us register fuel sav- ings of up to 30%. What were the outcomes? Our Fleet Management System pro- vided us with some very interesting data concerning fuel consumption in the first nine months of 2023 when compared to the same period in 2022. In fact, whereas in 2022 we covered 3.2 million kilometres and consumed 981,317 litres of fuel, in 2023 we covered 3.4 million kilometres but managed to reduce the fuel consump- tion to 1,009,993 litres. is means that thanks to our investment in our interna- tional fleet which today, is Euro 6, we have managed to reduce our fuel consumption by 2.7%, saving 27,580 litres in the last 9 months. When viewed in terms of CO 2 savings, this amounts to a reduction in emissions of 66 tons. But what does all this mean for your end clients? Look, operating more sustainably ob- 'Sustainable logistics is the only e majority of what we consume has to be imported. However, being an island, Malta never had alternative means of transport to rely on, other than by sea. "Any conditions that arise that could threaten this supply are never just economic issues but matters of national priority that affect our daily requirements. From our end, what we can do is seek to operate as efficiently and as sustainably as possible," says ETIENNE ATTARD, CEO of Express Trailers. "The EU's recent ETS Directive has become our most pressing concern because we are being made to face increased financial costs for using the only means of transport we are obliged to use – the sea."