British hat designers Gamble & Gunn believe the original energy and passion that was put into creating a classic hat doesn’t die, it only changes forms and owners. Gamble & Gunn use traditional heritage hat patterns to create their quintessentially British hats – from classic flat caps to pork pie hats and fedoras. Amazon makes sure these uniquely crafted products reach customers across Europe, quickly and without hassle. Similar to Gamble & Gunn, more than 40,000 other SMEs across the UK are growing their businesses by selling through Amazon to European customers, recording £1.8 billion in export sales in the European Union.

To support these businesses, we are investing in sea transportation to put their products closer to customers.

Our rail and sea networks are built on partnerships with European rail and sea carriers including Cargo Beamer, VIIa, the Mercitalia Group, Grimaldi, Stena Line, DFDS, and others. To be able to move flexibly between different transportation modes, we use trailers that can be easily transferred between ships, freight trains, and trucks.

A typical product journey starts at an Amazon fulfilment centre, where the trailer is loaded and taken to a sea port or rail terminal. From there, the load travels by ship or rail to another port or rail terminal where local drivers pick it up and take it to the final destination. Where we combine sea and rail with road transport, we plan the routes in such a way so that trailers travel the longest distances by rail or sea. This reduces driving times significantly and enables us to engage local road transport partners.

By moving products by sea or rail, instead of via road by trucks, we can significantly reduce our carbon footprint. On average, taking a rail or sea route to transport packages or inventory helps us reduce carbon emissions by almost 50%.

In 2023, like the year before, we will transfer thousands of truckloads between our buildings by sea and rail in Europe, saving thousands of tons of CO₂ emissions.