Peter Lagey started as sustainability manager at Ziegler Belux

In his previous position, Peter Lagey was active as manager of Multimodaal.Vlaanderen, the neutral advice point of the Flemish spearhead cluster for logistics VIL that informs and guides companies in their search for efficient and sustainable transport solutions. After waving goodbye to his colleagues at VIL in early December 2022, he took a three-month break before officially starting work as sustainability manager at Ziegler Belux.

Rest break

“I deliberately took a sabbatical,” he says. “I had a hugely exciting and instructive period at VIL. It was undoubtedly one of the most interesting jobs I have had the opportunity to do so far, but it took a lot of energy over the past five years. It was pulling, tugging and pushing to help realise the modal shift. I can honestly say I was tired. My internal battery needed recharging. I went ‘offline’ for a while and mostly walked a lot. I enjoyed that immensely.”

Two pillars

After a revitalising rest, he shot out again on 1 March 2023 at Ziegler Belux. Ziegler offers international logistics services and multimodal transport via road, sea, air, rail and inland waterways within the Ziegler Group. The group provides tailor-made solutions and positions itself as an expert for niche and specific industries. Since 2016, Diane Govaerts (granddaughter of founder Arthur Ziegler and Manager of the Year 2022, ed.) has led the company. “She is a modern woman who is completely up to speed with the latest developments,” he says. “She has a clear vision for the future and is building the company on two pillars: sustainability and innovation.”

Match

“I have worked for VIL for over a decade and have always been actively involved in innovation and sustainability. During the first conversation with Diane Govaerts, I immediately felt a click,” he continues. “We both have the ambition to invest in sustainable and innovative initiatives and make great strides in this. We know where we want to go and are plotting the path together.”

CO2 emissions

As sustainability manager, Peter Lagey will work on CO2 reporting (following the European Union’s measures to reduce CO2 emissions as part of the ‘Fit for 55 in 2030’ package, ed.). “We want to play a leading role in achieving these targets and are in the process of implementing a detailed CO2 reporting system at group level,” he says.

Proactive

The second pillar is modal shift. “In the short term, I am looking at which road transports can be considered for transport by water or rail. From my expertise, I want to approach this as strategically, methodically and action-oriented as possible,” he says. “I don’t want to wait until customers ask for multimodal solutions themselves, but instead want to proactively present them with concrete opportunities and developthem into a sustainable business case.”

Kopman

“At VIL, I was not so much involved operationally,” Lagey points out. “I see my appointment at Ziegler Belux as an opportunity toput all my knowledge and experience into practice. I want to make the difference between words and deeds and actually bring Ziegler to the head of the green pack.”

Technologies

Despite the range of sustainable initiatives the transport sector is already undertaking today, Peter remains realistic. “I believe climate change is a major challenge and human behaviour is the cause of this. We therefore urgently need to change our behaviour.Let there be no doubt about that. The problem is that today we do not yet have the technological means to meet the European Commission’s 2030 climate ambitions,” he says. “The targets set for the transport sector are extremely ambitious. There are important external factors that help determine the course of the sustainability story. For instance, some technological evolutions are not yet mature enough for the market and will have to gain momentum if we want to meet the targets.”

“You cannot become an energy-neutral transport company today,” he points out. “The latest technologies are also expensive. Even if you manage to build out an electric truck fleet, there is no guarantee that there will be enough power available to charge all trucks at the right time.”

Small successes

At Ziegler, according to Lagey, there is an added complexity. “You have to distinguish between different forms of transport and logistics,” he says. “A company that is strong in long-distance transport of full freights will switch to barge or rail faster than, say, a company like Ziegler, which focuses more on part freights and niche transport. We cannot but take a lot of small steps in the right direction to make a big difference in the long run.”

Green boy

Lagey is a green boy himself. “VIL has awakened something in me that I didn’t know was there. I used to be completely unaware of the environment. When I got into my car, I would push the accelerator as deep as possible to get to my destination as quickly as possible,” he says. “Shortly after I joined VIL, a colleague fell out of contention due to a serious sports accident. For this reason, I was assigned by VIL to co-direct the ‘Lean and Green’ project. I soon realised that this project was totally my thing and coordinated it for five years.”

“I really enjoy the fact that professionally I can take care of issues that also concern me privately,” he continues. “I want to do my bit for a better environment and climate.”

Putting his money where his mouth is

He puts his money where his mouth is. “We replaced our second car with a vehicle that runs on CNG. Since three years, I have been driving fully electric. Shorter distances I cover as much as possible by e-bike,” he says. “I had solar panels installed on my roof and installed a solar water heater. We pay close attention to our water consumption at home and all light bulbs have been replaced by LED. We are also good at sorting waste. I hardly have any residual waste anymore. We also don’t go on holiday by plane. With the resources we have and the technologies available, we try to contribute to a better climate at home as much as possible.”

Operating worldwide

Ziegler’s headquarters are located in Vilvoorde. The logistics provider operates worldwide with offices in 15 different countries and on four different continents. Recently, the company added another office in the US state of Texas. Ziegler also has several offices in China and South Africa.

Filip Van Hulle took over from Peter Lagey as manager of Multimodaal.Vlaanderen in early 2023.