With the arrival of the new vehicles, the shuttle service between the Cartiere del Garda mill and the Arcese logistics hub will be operated entirely by six electric trucks, running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Arcese and Cartiere del Garda are taking another significant step in their shared journey towards more sustainable logistics. One year after the arrival of the first Mercedes-Benz eActros 600, five new eActros 300 trucks are joining the fleet dedicated to transporting goods between the mill in Riva del Garda and the Arcese logistics hub. The new Mercedes-Benz Trucks vehicles are supplied by Daimler Truck Italia through Trivellato Industriali.
The service will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, using a fleet of six fully electric trucks that will completely replace the current diesel vehicles. Each year, the service involves approximately 13,000 round trips between Cartiere del Garda and Arcese, equivalent to around 26,000 journeys along the provincial road. This marks a tangible shift towards more sustainable logistics, significantly cutting vehicle operating emissions and reducing noise levels, an especially important factor during night-time operations.
The project, resulting from a joint investment by Cartiere del Garda and Arcese, is particularly significant for the Trentino region. Building on their longstanding partnership, the two companies have redesigned a daily transport operation by investing in both the fleet and the infrastructure needed to support it. The aim is to reduce the service’s impact on the local area through zero tailpipe emissions and quieter vehicles along urban routes.
“Over the years, we have built a partnership with Cartiere del Garda that enables us to tackle even complex transformations together,” says Emanuele Arcese, Global VP Road Freight FTL at Arcese Group. “Increasing the number of electric trucks used for this service from one to six means investing in a solution designed around the customer’s operational needs and the local area. The result reflects a collaborative effort, from selecting the vehicles to organising shifts and charging.”
The fleet’s operations are supported by a new system installed at Cartiere del Garda and supplied by Swish, a company specialising in charging infrastructure for commercial fleets. A central unit manages three charging points and distributes the available power according to the vehicles’ needs, giving priority to those with a lower state of charge. Locating the charging points at the loading bays allows charging to be integrated into normal operations, without dedicated detours. The energy required to charge the vehicles will be generated and supplied directly by Cartiere del Garda’s power plant.
Using the vehicles on short, recurring routes, together with the ability to charge them directly at the site they serve, allows operations to be organised around the service’s requirements. Energy consumption and intervals between charging sessions vary according to operating conditions, including outside temperature, load and seasonal factors.
“For our mill, transporting goods is a daily activity that also affects the local area in which we operate,” says Antonio di Blas, Plant Director at Cartiere del Garda. “That is why, together with Arcese, we have chosen to invest in a fully electric service and the infrastructure needed to operate it 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We want to continue ensuring the efficiency our production activities require, while paying greater attention to emissions and noise along routes through the town centre, directly benefiting the local community.”
With the introduction of the eActros 600 in 2025, Arcese and Cartiere del Garda began electrifying the shuttle service. The arrival of the five new vehicles and the charging infrastructure now extends that decision to the entire operation. This is the result of a joint effort and investments designed to reconcile the needs of continuous industrial operations with greater consideration for the quality of the urban environment.
The project provides a concrete example of what a long-term partnership between companies committed to innovation and sustainability can achieve: transforming an essential logistics service and bringing the benefits of innovation to the areas in which the companies operate every day.
Arcese
Arcese Group is a logistics provider with over 3,500 employees and 100 locations worldwide. Arcese connects the world and operates globally with the aim of offering innovative solutions to build tomorrow’s logistics today. Ethics, sustainability and digitalisation underpin the Group’s growth and guide all its people in anticipating customers’ needs, ensuring maximum efficiency and operational excellence.
Cartiere del Garda
Founded in 1956, the company experienced strong growth from 1971 onwards after joining the Bertelsmann Group, further strengthened in 1997 when it became part of Lecta Group, Europe’s third-largest producer of coated woodfree paper. In 2006, together with AGS, the local municipal utility, it established Alto Garda Power to develop the thermal power plant that now supplies the mill, AGS and the district heating network serving the municipality of Riva del Garda. Today, Cartiere del Garda is Italy’s largest producer of coated woodfree paper, recognised for its quality, efficiency and service to domestic and international markets.
