Transportation Safety

Our regulations and measures for transportation safety are part of our Responsible Care Management System. These cover the delivery of raw materials, the handling and distribution of chemical products between BASF sites, warehouses and customers, and the transportation of waste.

Strategy and governance

As a chemical company, we transport some hazardous goods that may have potentially negative effects on people and the environment if handled improperly or in the event of accidents involving third parties. Whether by road, rail, ship or air, we want to ensure that our products are loaded, transported and handled in accordance with the relevant regulations and their hazard potential. That is why we depend on global standards, an effective organization, training and reliable logistics partners. Our goal is to minimize risks along the entire transportation chain.

All BASF products intended for transport must be clearly identifiable, classified, securely packaged and labeled. The transportation of dangerous goods is subject to mandatory national and international dangerous goods regulations as well as our global requirements. Our sites and Group companies are responsible for implementing these transportation safety regulations and requirements. Compliance is regularly monitored by the Environmental Protection, Health, Safety and Quality (EHSQ) unit in the Corporate Center using globally standardized transportation safety reviews. External logistics partners are evaluated based on risk either through assessments or on-site audits.

Our global network of BASF experts trains the responsible leaders and their employees on transporting dangerous goods. This network also ensures that information, insights and best practices are shared on an ongoing basis.

Preventive safety measures

National and international dangerous goods regulations are based on an assessment of transportation risks and define rules and measures for safely transporting dangerous goods. We use various tools to minimize transportation risks. For example, for every dangerous good to be transported, we check in each case whether the packaging has been approved for that product and is suitable for the type of transport. We conduct digital dangerous goods checks before shipping orders are released. In addition, vehicles are subjected to a thorough dangerous goods check prior to loading and rejected if there are any issues.

Above and beyond this, we use our global requirements to specifically assess the safety and environmental risks of transporting and handling raw materials and sales products with high hazard potential. This is based on the Guidance on Safety Risk Assessment for Chemical Transport Operations published by the European Chemical Industry Council (CEFIC).

We stipulate worldwide requirements for our logistics service providers and assess them in terms of safety and quality. Our experts use our own tools as well as internationally approved schemes for evaluation and monitoring. These include the ship inspection reports issued by the Chemical Distribution Institute (CDI) and the Oil Companies International Marine Forum (OCIMF).

Transportation incidents

To evaluate transportation safety, we systematically record transportation incidents according to defined criteria. We use the number of transportation incidents¹ as a reporting indicator. In 2023, we recorded 16 transportation incidents worldwide (2022: 25).

A particular focus is incidents involving goods spillages that could lead to significant environmental impacts. These include dangerous goods leaks in excess of 200 kilograms on public traffic routes, provided transport was arranged by BASF. We recorded no incidents in 2023 with spillage of more than 200 kilograms of dangerous goods² (2022: 1). There have therefore been no incidents with a significant impact on the environment (2022: 0).

• More information on transportation safety