Sustainable supply chain
In accordance with the Group’s ESG strategy, we aim to quantify our carbon footprint in order to set accurate climate targets, in alignment with the Paris agreement.
In accordance with the Group’s ESG strategy, we aim to quantify our carbon footprint in order to set accurate climate targets, in alignment with the Paris agreement. We act and expect our business partners to act in an ethical, socially responsible and environmentally sustainable manner. Our standards of ethics and rules of business partnership are transparent and known to all our suppliers
We want to do business with entities that are guided by the same values and pursue similar goals. We expect our business partners to assume shared responsibility for the climate, environment and social impacts. By 2030, we expect to have in place a system for assessing prospective suppliers of products and services against a set of ESG criteria. We will also implement a programme for reducing the carbon footprint of our products along with a system for collecting emissions data. We will promote sustainability-focused changes and support our trading partners in implementing such changes as part of their social and environmental practices. We have plans to organise relevant training.
All plants of the Grupa Azoty Group see a daily outbound flow of products, counted in thousands of tonnes, and receive huge amounts of raw materials needed to produce them. Responsibility for coordinating this complex supply chain lies with the Group’s procurement and logistics departments. This is where decisions are made regarding optimal arrangements for both outbound and inbound transport. We manage to combine financial savings in logistics with measurable environmental benefits.
The efficient supply chain allows us to sell our products in the European Union and other European countries, as well as in Asia, North America, South America and Africa.
Our storage depots are located all over Poland. We also use storage facilities of more than 80 external distributors. Wherever we store our products and raw materials, we always adhere to the highest standards and relevant safety requirements.
If possible, we use rail freight as the most environmentally friendly and cost-effective way of transporting materials. Its efficient management for the entire Group is the responsibility of Grupa Azoty Koltar, which also owns a modern locomotive repair and maintenance facility.
Our Group also uses its own port assets in Gdynia, Gdańsk and Police. Product shipments are dispatched in bulk carriers and chemical tankers, and large volumes of goods are also transported in intermodal containers. Our cargoes are handled by the container terminals in Gdynia and Gdańsk and by most shipowners operating on the market. Shipments by sea include fertilizers and chemicals intended for further processing by our customers.
In line with our operational excellence strategy, by 2030 we plan to increase our cargo handling capacities by expanding the storage resources of Group companies, as part of which we want to upgrade logistics of fertilizers and plastics, and by reducing the cost of using third-party storage facilities.
BEST PRACTICE
We operate a modern TMS SOOT system that facilitates transport processes and, among other things, can be used to communicate with the carriers, report transport events, send delivery notices and notify customers of a shipment dispatch.
BEST PRACTICE
In April 2021, in the oldest existing part of the Szczecin shipyard, 30 tonnes of NOXy were loaded from two tanker trucks onto the ‘Barbara’ vessel, which consumes about 200 litres of the product daily. The loading operation required special preparations, involving the use of hoses more than 50 metres in length. Previously, NOXy was only loaded onto ships at Western European ports.
BEST PRACTICE
In 2021, Grupa Azoty ZAK S.A. was a member of the Agreement between Operators of Transshipment Terminals and Logistics Centres of Central and Eastern Europe. It is an association of entities operating in the transport, forwarding and logistics industries founded on the initiative of Polskie Koleje Państwowe S.A. Grupa Azoty ZAK S.A. is the first production company to have joined the agreement.
Given the scale of our operations and contracts awarded, we are regarded as a very attractive employer by contractors across many industries. We want to leverage that influence to promote values that matter to us. Suppliers looking to obtain business from the Grupa Azoty Group must comply with our Trading Partners Code of Conduct, which prohibits such practices as:
- use of child labour throughout the supply chain,
- use of forced or slave labour,
- any form of corruption – ‘Zero Tolerance for Corruption’,
- financing of political parties,
- money laundering and terrorist financing,
- violations of fundamental labour rights and the law,
- employee discrimination.
By accepting the Code, suppliers also commit to minimising their environmental impacts and to avoiding the use of raw materials sourced from conflict zones.
At the supplier selection stage, the potential contractors are required to acknowledge having read the Trading Partners Code of Conduct and the Grupa Azoty Group Code of Ethical Conduct along with the Anti-Corruption Policy, and then, when signing their contracts, they agree to apply and follow the provisions of both documents. In addition, we sign an agreement with each supplier to assist each other in detecting and combating any cases of misconduct and reporting such cases promptly.
