Every lost hazardous goods container costs real money: For the transport of lithium-ion batteries, Emons Battery, a subsidiary of the freight forwarder Emons, uses special containers that can cost several tens of thousands of euros. To avoid losses, the Cologne-based company has brought Logistikbude GmbH on board as a partner. With the digital platform for container management, Emons Battery aims to keep an overview of its load carriers and minimize material shrinkage. Logistikbude announced this in a press release at the beginning of November.
Batteries are considered dangerous goods and must be transported in approved, fireproof containers, among others according to ADR guidelines (European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road). The special thing about handling batteries: the person who places them on the market, i.e., sells or ships them, is responsible for their transport and for complying with safety regulations. However, the expensive special containers and the proper disposal of batteries pose major challenges for many companies. Enrico Hermanny, head of the Emons Battery business unit, explains:
„The costs for special containers can – depending on the use case
– amount to several tens of thousands of euros. For many companies, these costs are hard to bear.“
That is where Emons Battery starts: The company offers its customers, according to its own statements, the complete package around battery transport. If, for example, a defective battery must be disposed of, Emons Battery provides the corresponding safety container, organizes the transport and ensures smooth delivery to the disposal site – whether a car battery or a battery for e-bikes.
„In many cases, the container can be at the customer's site within 24 hours,“ says Hermanny.
Already at the founding of the new business unit in 2023, Emons relied on Logistikbude as a partner for digital container management. The software solution makes the status of all special containers transparently visible and enables automated management.
„We needed a system with which we could always know where our containers are,“ explains Nico Möllers, Project Manager Recycling and Waste Management at Emons. „That’s why we introduced Logistikbude – proactively, so that losses do not occur in the first place.“
At the start of the collaboration with the “Bude”
at the end of last year, ten containers were initially equipped with QR codes. During transport, the code is simply scanned via the Logistikbude app. Location, condition and usage duration are recorded automatically. This creates seamless traceability with no extra effort. In the meantime, Emons Battery digitally manages large quantities of various containers – including 50 newly arrived special containers for the transport of critical batteries to P911.
„We were particularly impressed by the simplicity,“ says Möllers. „The software was ready for use immediately, requires no elaborate implementation phase and thus precisely meets our requirements.“
For Philipp Hüning, co-founder and CEO of Logistikbude, the decisive advantage of the self-developed software becomes evident here.
„With Logistikbude, we give customers like Emons Battery a ready-made system that can be used immediately thanks to standardized processes and functions. At the same time, we can adapt the software flexibly to individual requirements,“ explains Hüning.
To date, Emons Battery has not recorded any load-carrier loss thanks to Logistikbude. The cooperation also enables Emons Battery to differentiate itself from the competition. Because, with the help of the software solution,
the containers can be rented with tag-level precision – a clear advantage for customers. Hermanny explains:
„With the software, the containers can be rented with tag-level precision – a clear advantage for customers.“
In addition, Emons Battery offers the option to track the special containers in real time. Looking to the future, Emons remains open to further deployment fields:
„Pooling is a huge field with different requirements. At the moment we are one hundred percent geared toward batteries with our stock, but prospectively we could extend the concept to other special containers, for example gas cylinders, contaminated textiles or other sensitive goods,“ explains Hermanny.
In the future, the pooling provider would like to intensify the collaboration with Logistikbude, because there is potential to further automate the management of load carriers – away from scanning individual containers toward batch booking. Möller:
„In five years, thousands of our containers will probably be in operation. Then scanning with a mobile phone will become too time-consuming.“ Yet Logistikbude's software grows with the project. „There are already ideas and approaches that we can implement in the future,“ says
