OREANDA-NEWS. September 16, 2014. BASF and BASF-YPC Company Limited (BASF-YPC) have jointly held their first Logistics Service Providers’ Day, focused on the sustainable development in the chemical logistics industry in China.

During the event, the two companies presented the fourth Shenxingtaibao award, a logistics service provider (LSP) award which recognizes best-in-class environment, health, and safety (EHS) performance, service performance and the delivery of innovative and cost efficient solutions. 125 representatives from 65 logistics service providers participated in the event. Many of them play an important role in China’s chemical logistics industry. “As the world’s leading chemical company, we have a particular responsibility to our environment and our society. Transportation is an important element of our sustainability oriented value chain," said Johnny Kwan, Senior Vice President, Country Platform and Functions, BASF Greater China.

"With this event, we aim to strengthen the awareness of our LSPs in China about the sustainability challenges of the chemical industry, so we can work together with them to create value and minimize our risks." “We are delighted to see that the long term partnership between BASF-YPC and our logistics service providers has generated encouraging results,” said Dr. Stephan Kothrade, President of BASF-YPC Company Limited. “We are impressed by the efforts from our logistics suppliers to continuously improve their EHS standards and service performance.” This year’s Shenxingtaibao award was re-launched with emphasis on SECURE performance.

The two companies expect that their LSPs, the modern-day Shenxingtaibaos, can uphold the values of SECURE: Safety, Efficiency, Compliance, Underwriting, Reliability, and Emergency preparedness. The awardees include SIPG Logistics International Freight Forwarding, Jiangsu Yi Lian Logistics, Zhenjiang Baohua Logistics, Nanjing Haoyu Logistics and Rokin Logistics Supply Chain. This year’s event also featured two panel discussions, on the Corporate Social Responsibility of the Chemical Logistics Industry, and Crisis Management of, and Emergency Response to, Road Safety Incidents. Experts at the panel discussions consisted of BASF and BASF-YPC managers, winning LSPs, and representatives from China Chemical Industry News.

The two topics reflect the ongoing focus of BASF and BASF-YPC on sustainable development. By introducing constructive views from different perspectives, BASF and BASF-YPC broadened the LSPs’ view of the scope of corporate social responsibility and encouraged them to upgrade their corporate governance in this regard. “As a logistics company specializing in the transport of dangerous goods, we pay exceptional attention to EHS issues. Our business started with providing service to BASF-YPC some eight years ago; we have grown to become a key supplier for both BASF-YPC and BASF,” said Mr. Tong Caibao, President of Zhenjiang Baohua Logistics Co. Ltd. “The Shenxingtaibao award is not only a recognition of our service in the past, but also increases our confidence to become a competitive and responsible logistics company. Aiming to achieve this goal, we will continue to enforce high EHS standards with regard to investment in logistics equipment, day-to-day operations, and people training and management. We hope to be able to deliver greater value for our own business, our customers, and our society.”

The overall logistics service performance and environment, health and safety performance of the partners’ LSPs have improved steadily since the launch of the Shenxingtaibao Award, and they have also delivered many innovative logistics solutions. For example, awardee SIPG Logistics worked together with BASF and optimized delivery efficiency with a logistics solution that reduced fuel consumption for each delivery substantially by shortening waiting time and reducing idle return trips, which supports the value of sustainable development. BASF was the first company in China to pursue a Road Safety Quality Assessment System (RSQAS) third party audit in 2008, which is now becoming an industry standard. RSQAS is a tool to assess the quality, safety and environmental management systems of third party logistic service providers by independent assessors.