Transportation accounts for about one-fifth of global carbon dioxide emissions. In some countries (especially the richer countries) transportation can be one of the largest segments of carbon footprint for an individual. For example, in the United States, about 29% of total Greenhouse Emissions come from Transportation making it the largest contributor to Greenhouse Emissions. Moreover, between 1990, and 2019 the Greenhouse Emissions in the transportation sector in the United States increased more than any other sector.

As the world progresses in Globalisation the need for transportation is increasing. One of the industries that requires a strong transportation network is the clothing industry since clothes travel around the world to different customers in various countries. There are four main modes of transportation used in the clothing industry which are Air, Ship, Road, or Rail.

Air: Air travel is one of the most efficient methods of transportation over long distances, and across oceans. However, air travel is also extremely expensive, and energy-intensive. Statistics indicate that air travel produces 500 grams of carbon dioxide for every kilometer traveled per ton transported.

Ship: Transportation by ships is one of the slowest modes of transportation with some shipments taking a few weeks to even months to arrive. In addition to being slow, transportation through ships is limited in the sense that only a few cities around the world have ports to receive commodities. However, Ship transportation is environmentally friendly compared to other modes of transportation since it merely produces 10-40 grams of carbon dioxide for every kilometer traveled per ton transported.

Road: Road transport is a popular, and cheap method of transportation locally, or over short distances. However, Road travel is unpredictable due to traffic congestion, weather, etc., so the time taken for goods to be delivered can’t be accurately predicted in the case of Road transport. Road transport has limited carbon dioxide emissions as well (60-150 grams for every kilometer traveled per ton transported).

Rail: Rail transport is a greener and efficient mode of transporting commodities from one place to another. However, the issue with Rail transport lies in the available infrastructure, and Rail network of a region. Rail transport produces about 30-100 grams of carbon dioxide for every kilometer traveled per ton transported.

Overall it is observed that no mode of transport in the clothing industry is perfect, so in order for companies to increase their profits, while ensuring environmental sustainability there is a need to reduce unnecessary transportation. One way to accomplish this is making the switch to Hand Made Stones (HMS). If a company uses HMS instead of traditional stones for the stone washing process they could reduce their stone shipments by about 60-100 times due to HMS’s durability. Thus, instead of getting between tens of pumice stone shipments, just 1 shipment of HMS would help companies increase their profit, and optimize their production process, and reduce their carbon footprint. Make the shift to HMS today.

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Although the world has more than enough shipping containers for the amount of commodities traded via shipping worldwide the problem that has emerged is the shipping containers getting stuck instead of freely moving from one port to another. Typically, a shipping container is emptied at a port, and then sent off with commodities to another port, but due to the COVID-19 Pandemic the shipping containers were stuck in certain ports. Asia, and Europe are experiencing the biggest shortage of containers as most of the shipping containers are stuck in North, and South American ports. When the COVID-19 Pandemic began then its impact was initially felt in Asia resulting in many countries going into lockdown to curb the spread of the virus. During this time a large number of factories closed, and many containers remained in ports, so there were many empty containers in North American ports. As Asia began to emerge from lockdown North America started locking down, so empty containers weren’t reloaded at the same rate as full containers were arriving in North American ports. The overall result of this was a large number of empty containers in North America, but not enough in Asia, and Europe.

The imbalance of containers in the different regions of the world has resulted in a drastic change in costs. A full container load today from Asia to North America has experienced a 400% increase in costs. The sharp increase in costs has resulted in a large number of clients being unable to secure a container on a ship since they’re being outbid.

Given the container crisis many clients are moving to alternate modes of transportation such as Air, or Ground. However, as the demand for these alternatives increases there is an increase in their costs as well given their limited availability, and to add insult to injury Air transport experiences travel restrictions. In the past commercial cargo was loaded onto passenger planes; however, the pandemic has caused a steep decline in the number of passengers resulting in fewer commercial flights being flown. Ground transportation is also experiencing restrictions since there is a driver shortage being experienced as a large number of drivers have retired, but a smaller number of people are replacing them. Thus, overall the situation is grim.

In order to prevent yourself from entering the clutches of this crisis it is advisable to reduce transportation wherever possible. For the clothing industry one means to do so is replacing the use of pumice stones for stone washing with Hand Made Stones (HMS). If a company uses HMS instead of traditional stones for the stone washing process they could reduce their stone shipments by about 60-100 times since HMS is 60-100 times more durable than pumice stones. Thus, instead of getting between 60, and 100 pumice stone shipments, just 1 shipment of HMS would help companies increase their profit, and optimize their production process. Make the shift to HMS today.

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