Red Cross starts EV project in Jordan
The humanitarian sector, long resistant to trends towards fleet optimisation, has finally worked up an appetite for the innovations that are driving change in corporate fleet management.
That is the main takeaway of the 16th annual Fleet Forum Conference, held earlier this month in Copenhagen, says Paul Jansen, the executive director of Fleet Forum, an organisation dedicated to humanitarian fleets.
Cost Allocation
“NGOs have often felt that the specifics of their mission and the terrain they operate in exempt them from mainstream fleet management. But as evidence mounts that innovation does add value, they are now ready to take action. Fleet Forum has developed a Cost Allocation Tool and other instruments to help them do this”, says Jansen.
The global humanitarian fleet is relatively small: “Between 80,000 and 100,000 vehicles, of which at least 75% are Toyota Land Cruisers (pictured)”, Jansen jokes. “So it's very niche. Yet it's an important market for manufacturers and fleet management providers, because of the prestige attached to working with the Red Cross, the World Health Organisation, the UN High Commission for Refugees and other humanitarian organisations”.
Defensive driving
Fleet Forum is convinced it can help NGOs improve the safety, effectiveness and cost-efficiency of their fleet – even in difficult countries like Afghanistan, Somalia or Sudan.
“Defensive driving courses can provide benefits. Telematics will increasingly be used to drive efficiency – eventually leading to NGOs sharing vehicles. Yes, even here, there's going to be a trend towards sharing and outsourcing mobility. One peculiar problem: NGOs may no longer have their logos on the sides of these outsourced vehicles. That reduces their visibility, and may become an issue in their fundraising”.
Far-fetched innovations
Considering the challenges facing humanitarian fleets, some innovations may seem a bit far-fetched – electrification, for example. Not so, says Jansen: “A lot of the supporting staff also drives Land Cruisers, but never leaves Nairobi, so to speak”.
“And let's not forget that urbanisation is a factor in emerging countries as well, so a lot of the aid delivery happens in urban areas anyway. So trials with shared mobility or electric vehicles are not that impractical. As it happens, the Red Cross is starting an EV pilot programme in Jordan at the end of next year”.
The Fleet Forum Conference in Copenhagen featured speakers from Frost & Sullivan, the UPS Foundation, Catholic Relief Services (among others), and tackled topics such as vehicle selection criteria, TCO and changing driver behaviour. At the end of the Conference, Jonathan Baker, Global Fleet Manager of Marie Stops International, received the UPS Best Transport Achievement Award 2018.
