James Davey

LONDON, (Reuters) – Tesco (OTC) announced Thursday that it had introduced a refrigerated railway freight service in order to assist Britain’s largest supermarket chain deliver Christmas gifts and reduce its carbon footprint.

Tesco has launched a new service that removes road transport for those who want to travel from Britain with fresh fruit and vegetables from Europe.

This new service is available as Christmas draws near. It will ship hundreds of different products including carrots, sprouts, onion, oranges, lemons, and onions to all customers who shop during the holiday season.

Tesco announced that it has partnered with Direct Rail Services to provide chilled goods transportation from Port of Tilbury (east of London) to Coatbridge, Scotland, by low-CO2 railway twice daily, seven days per week.

Tesco stated that the service, which covers 415 miles per year will remove at least 17,000 containers from the roads each year. This saves 7.3 million kilometres and almost 9,000 tonnes CO2 emissions.

Tesco hopes to reach 90,000. Containers on rail will be transported in an average of 65,000 per year.

“We’ve been using rail to transport our goods since 2008 and this new service reflects our continuing commitment to rail which has clear advantages for our business, our customers and the planet,” Jason Tarry, Tesco UK and Ireland CEO, said.

Tesco extended its green goals in September by promising zero net carbon emissions for its entire operations by 2050, as well as those generated by its products and supply chains.

The company also promised a net zero goal of 2035 across the group for all operations. This is in line with its ambitions for the UK’s business last year.

British retailers have been experiencing delays in their international supply chains, which are made worse by labour shortages within domestic transport and warehouse networks.

Tesco however has stated that it’s doing well.