Communication on Progress

Participant
Published
  • 03-Mar-2015
Time period
  • March 2014  –  March 2015
Format
  • Stand alone document – Basic COP Template
Differentiation Level
  • This COP qualifies for the Global Compact Active level
Self-assessment
  • Includes a CEO statement of continued support for the UN Global Compact and its ten principles
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Human Rights
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Labour
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Environment
  • Description of actions or relevant policies related to Anti-Corruption
  • Includes a measurement of outcomes
 
  • Statement of continued support by the Chief Executive Officer
  • Statement of the company's chief executive (CEO or equivalent) expressing continued support for the Global Compact and renewing the company's ongoing commitment to the initiative and its principles.

  • 03-04-2015

    To our stakeholders:

    I am pleased to confirm that Rotra Logistics reaffirms its support of the Ten Principles of the United Nations Global Compact in the areas of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption.

    In this annual Communication on Progress, we describe our actions to continually improve the integration of the Global Compact and its principles into our business strategy, culture and daily operations. We also commit to share this information with our stakeholders using our primary channels of communication.

    Sincerely yours,

    Mr. Machiel Roelofsen
    Vice President

Human Rights
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of human rights for the company (i.e. human rights risk-assessment). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on Human Rights.

  • Royal Rotra respects and supports the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; Rotra is committed to respecting human rights as stated in the human declaration of human rights. We endeavour to ensure that we do not infringe on human rights and comply with the laws of the countries in which we operate. Both internally and externally.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions to implement Human Rights policies, address Human Rights risks and respond to Human Rights violations.

  • Rotra has drawn up internal rules and guidelines which describe rights and obligations of employees and management. These guidelines are provided internally and to be consulted any moment. These are documented in our new Intranet webportal. Every new employee receives this document with guidelines at his/her careerstart at Rotra. Further more a selection of our employees are represented in a periodical meeting wtih Rotra's board of directors. These employees are elected and represent all employees within our company. All ideas, remarks etc. can be communicated via this platform. Externally Rotra screens suppliers and agree on contracts and quality management in order to maintain human rights and correct behaviour. Besides that, as a socially committed organization we support charities like Friends of Senegal support inhabitants Senegal - medical care) and Alpe d'HuZes (Cancer foundation). We also support local sportclubs in order to enable our employees to stay in good physical and mental shape.
    We also have an agreement with a sportschool in the neighbourhood where all employees can work on their physical shape at discounted tariff.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates performance.

  • Royal Rotra has not ever received any complaint from any stakeholder in relation to any human rights violations. Neither has Rotra been subject to any incident or investigation regarding human rights.

    Royal Rotra has had the honor having met all standards and requirements of SMETA and successfully completed the audit in 2014! SMETA stands for Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit: an assessment aimed at ensuring ethical entrepreneurship in companies. The areas considered were labor, health & safety, environment and business ethics. Above all Rotra has had the honour at its 100th Anniversary of being granted the royal status by her Majesty the Queen: Royal Rotra.

Labour
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of labour rights for the company (i.e. labour rights-related risks and opportunities). Description of written policies, public commitments and company goals on labour rights.

  • Rotra's Human Resource policy and contracts with employees describe required rights and employer obligations (e.g. safety and health, non discrimination/equal chances, working hours, wages etc.). This according to Dutch and Belgian Law.
    In order to maintain a high-quality service and give all our employees the opportunity to develop and gain knowledge we started the Rotra Academy.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions taken by the company to implement labour policies, address labour risks and respond to labour violations.

  • Working space for all our employees meet the strictest requirements; both office staff as our drivers and Warehouse employees. F.e. this year we created (walking) routes within our Warehouses in order to maintain safety for all our employees. Further more we renew our trucks periodically > meet the strictest, most recent requirements in relation to safety and environment.
    We also introduced our own Rotra Academy. Professional teachers train all our employees at the Rotra Academy (drivers, Warehouse-employees, office staff and management) in order to increase quality as well as safety. We want to enable our personnel to improve their skills. All this info is also shared and documented in our new Intranet webportal. Labour rules and rules of conduct are presented at wallsheets throughout our offices.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates performance.

  • Rotra has never been involved in any incident or investigation in relation to the Global Compact labour principles. Further more as stated in the Human Rights section rotra successfully completed the SMETA audit > SMETA stands for Sedex Members Ethical Trade Audit: an assessment aimed at ensuring ethical entrepreneurship in companies. The areas considered were labor, health & safety, environment and business ethics.

Environment
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of environmental protection for the company (i.e. environmental risks and opportunities). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on environmental protection.

  • Rotra uses its key position by converting its policy into concrete actions and results and in doing so actively contributes to a sustainable society in which people, planet and profit go together. Rotra is strongly committed to providing sustainable service and by means of its Rotra Academy, communicates this awareness to all its employees and externally by our Rotra Newsletter, social media and our website.

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions to implement environmental policies, address environmental risks and respond to environmental incidents.

  • Rotra's green policy dates right back to the 80s of the past century. Rotra developed its first trailers for train transport (Hupac Transport) to Southern Europe; currently still hundreds of trailers are leaving by train on a monthly basis. In the early 80s Rotra developed the first volume combinations; the first vehicle to pass the LZV (Long Heavy Vehicle)-test in the Netherlands in 2004 was a Rotra-roadtrain!
    In recent years Rotra has fulfilled its pioneering role in sustainable logistics by introducing trucks running on alternative fuels. After taking into use Europe's first truck on ethanol in 2007, the first clean Econic natural gas truck was introduced in the Benelux in the summer of 2009. In 2011 Rotra introduces trucks on CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) and LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas).

    In the summer of 2010 Rotra provides its 5000m2 large Automatic Bicycle Warehouse (ABW) in Doesburg with solar cells. By using this renewable, environmental friendly, energy Rotra establishes an annual emission-reduction of over 48.000 kgs CO2!

    Last year Rotra started the construction of its own container terminal at its premises in Doesburg. Rotra expects to handle 5.000-10.000 containers yearly and therefore saves up to 194 truck-loads from Rotterdam/Antwerp to Doesburg v.v. by road weekly. The terminal is expected to be operational Q3 2015. With this environment-friendly alternative for the increasing congestion by road Rotra establishes, besides extra service to our customers, an enormous CO2 emission reduction. Within this project Rotra will build a filling station at its future terminal, which will be used for the filling of LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) for both trucks and barges as clean and quiet alternative for fuels such as diesel. The first multimodal inland LNG-station in Europe. Rotra believes in LNG as the clean, quiet and safe fuel for the future and supports with this initiative the sustainable use of the multimodal transport chain. The project is supported by the European Union with a contribution from its TEN-T program.

    However, as it is impossible to reduce the CO2-emission to zero and Rotra's ambition is 100% climate neutral transport, we would like to tackle the residual emission with our clients. Therefore, we offer our clients the possibility to transport 100% climateneutral together with Rotra. With our product Rotra Green Footprint we collect shipments worldwide 100% CO2-neutral and deliver them at their destination. We can do this by compensating the CO2-emission, in cooperation with the Climate Neutral Group (www.climateneutralgroup.com), with investments in sustainable energy projects.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates environmental performance.

  • Rotra has been awarded the Lean&Green Award for its sustainable strategy. The environmental performance is measured by the objectives stated by the organization of this award > 20% CO2 reduction in 5 years of time.
    The Rotra Group compensated 681.425kgs CO2 in 2014 with the product Rotra Green Footprint. This is more than 5 times we compensated the year before. We hope we can continue this positive trend in cooperation with our esteemed clients and partners.

Anti-Corruption
  • Assessment, policy and goals
  • Description of the relevance of anti-corruption for the company (i.e. anti-corruption risk-assessment). Description of policies, public commitments and company goals on anti-corruption.

  • Rotra does not accept any form of bribery and corruption; neither employees, nor Rotra's management nor our partners/suppliers worldwide. We select our partners according to strict criteria. (I.e. manipulation, moneylaundering, bribery, charitable benefits/gifts).

  • Implementation
  • Description of concrete actions to implement anti-corruption policies, address anti-corruption risks and respond to incidents.

  • Rotra maintains strict guidelines for employees how to act in case of bribery. Integrity is an important part of our policy. We have even printed our policy on posters hanging on the walls in all our premises. We also publicate them on our Intranet; everyone is any moment of the day aware of our people, planet, profit statement. New personnel is screened by our HRM in order to minimize the chance of corruption. An appropriate sanction will follow in case of any violation.

  • Measurement of outcomes
  • Description of how the company monitors and evaluates anti-corruption performance.

  • Rotra has never been involved in any incident or investigation in relation to corruption and/or bribery. Our predicate '' Royal'' is a big honour and ultimate proof of anti-corruption. We monitor regulations and act accordingly. We have an agreement with Dutch government to only have limited tax- monitoring because of proven mutual trust. We are also AEO certified and 'known shipper' in favour of our customs and Air&Ocean activities.