Sustainable flexitank transport: best practices for bulk wine logistics

Bulk liquid transportation plays an important role in helping wine, beer and spirits importers manage volumes efficiently and meet sustainability goals. Market conditions in 2024 highlighted this even more. According to the latest OIV report, global wine production reached one of its lowest levels in over sixty years, while export prices remained high. These shifts encourage businesses to find transport solutions that use fewer materials, generate fewer emissions and support stable supply.

Flexitanks are one option that can help. They allow large volumes of wine or other beverages to move in fewer shipments, creating opportunities for lower-emission transport. This article explores what bulk liquid transportation involves, how bulk wine movement works, and why sustainable flexitank transport can support the industry in today’s changing environment.

What is bulk liquid transportation and why does sustainability matter?

Bulk liquid transportation refers to the movement of large volumes of liquids in specialised containers such as flexitanks or ISO tanks. These solutions are used widely for beverages, including wine and support efficient long-distance transport by road, rail or sea freight.

The sustainability focus continues to grow. Importers and producers are increasingly looking for ways to reduce packaging waste, decrease CO₂e emissions and streamline their transport footprint. With global supply chains under pressure and material efficiency becoming more important, bulk liquid transportation offers a practical way to move alcoholic beverages responsibly, using fewer resources per litre transported.

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How does bulk wine transport support greener beverage logistics?

Bulk wine refers to wine transported in large volumes using flexitanks or ISO tanks instead of individual bottles. For many importers, this can be an effective way to manage costs and improve environmental performance. Sending wine in bulk helps reduce glass packaging, supports better use of container space and keeps transport efficient.

OIV data shows that bulk wine exports grew in both value and volume in 2024, signalling continued interest in large-volume transport as a smart option for global markets. When the wine arrives at its destination, it is bottled closer to the point of sale, which can help reduce packaging waste and optimise the supply chain.

Bulk wine movement also creates opportunities for greener bulk wine transport, especially when combined with lower-emission marine fuel options or consolidated routes.

Which transport methods are used for bulk liquids?

Various solutions are available for transporting liquids, each offering advantages depending on product type, scale and destination. The options most commonly used for wine, beer or spirits include:

• Barrels and drums
• Intermediate bulk containers (IBCs)
• ISO tank containers
• Flexitanks

Flexitanks often support sustainability goals because they maximise container volume and reduce the amount of packaging materials needed. They also adapt well to high-volume beverage transport while maintaining product quality.

Why is sustainable flexitank transport relevant today?

The beverage industry is experiencing rising sustainability expectations and evolving market pressures. The OIV notes that global vineyard surface area continued to decline in 2024, while production levels fell across many regions. These shifts, combined with higher export prices and increased focus on environmental performance, encourage supply chains to adopt more efficient transport methods.

Sustainable flexitank transport helps by supporting:

• better material efficiency through reduced packaging
• opportunities for lower-emission wine transport
• streamlined logistics using fewer containers
• reliable protection of beverage quality
• alignment with corporate climate commitments

With more producers and importers searching for ways to remove unnecessary materials and optimise their environmental performance, flexitanks can be a helpful part of a greener transport strategy.

How does Hillebrand Gori’s flexitank solution support sustainable bulk liquid transport?

Hillebrand Gori has partnered with Carbon Footprint to present a carbon life cycle assessment of its 24,000-liter flexitank, which concludes that they are an environmentally friendly bulk liquid transportation option when properly recycled. This assessment provides valuable insight into how sustainable flexitank transport can support lower-emission beverage logistics.

The assessment focuses on the effect of emissions of the complete cycle of a flexitank, from the embodied raw material emissions to its disposal and recovery, taking into account eight different route scenarios, showing the average emissions in the final calculation.

Four types of Hillebrand Gori’s 24,000-liter flexitanks were used in the report and compared against an ISO Tank, using the same weight of the product and considering the same pickup and drop-off locations, and taking into account that an ISO tank has a useful life of 82.5 trips. When averaging every route scenario and completing the same delivery, Hillebrand Gori’s flexitanks were responsible for causing around 6,061 kg CO2 emissions, whereas ISO Tanks caused around 6,702 kg CO2 emissions, showing that Hillebrand’s flexitanks have a lower impact on the environment in terms of CO2 emissions.

The data was determined using the weighted average basis.

The research concludes that the main differences in the emissions’ variations between both types of bulk liquid transportation are primarily due to product distribution.

The difference is explained by the fact that an ISO Tank is heavier than the combined weight of Hillebrand Gori’s flexitank and an ISO 20ft Dry Container, the container in which it is carried. Additionally, “ISO Tanks are often required to be transported from a greater distance to the depot for loading and returned after unloading”, justifies Carbon Footprint in the report, whereas “ISO 20ft Dry Box Containers are not”.

Hillebrand Gori is fully committed to recycling its flexitanks, last year 52% of them were recycled mainly mechanically, which generated only 6,75 kg C02 emissions, less than the 7,27 kg CO2 associated with the cleaning of an ISO tank, which requires 2,500 liters of water and 2,5 kg of detergent per cleaning.

Today 95% of the Hillebrand Gori wine flexitanks arriving in the UK or Australia are already mechanically recycled and the bulkheads reused. To strengthen Hillebrand Gori’s position and offerings, partnerships will be strategically formed with major waste management companies to provide local, regional and global recovery and recycling solutions for the flexitanks.

This, combined with Hillebrand Gori’s involvement in key Polyolefin recycling platforms and new recycling technologies, further evidences its commitment to offer a long-term sustainable transport solution for bulk liquids.

Contact us now and let us get started on making your bulk wine transportation process easier, faster, and more sustainable!

How Hillebrand Gori can help with your bulk wine transport

As a logistics partner specialised in wine, beer and spirits, Hillebrand Gori supports importers through sea-transport solutions designed for reliability, visibility and sustainability. Its flexitank services, recycling programs and digital tools help create opportunities for sustainable flexitank transport that align with environmental goals. Readers can explore more insights at the Hillebrand Gori knowledge centre: https://info.hillebrandgori.com/knowledge-center