The European Union began in the 1980s to explore a new collaborative model for logistics
systems, i.e. the integration of logistics and supply chain management. The aim was to
combine the material flows and information flows between the end consumers and the initial
suppliers. It emphasizes the inter-company cooperation in the distribution process of products by changing the distributed logistics management across companies. The purpose is to
achieve logistics efficiency that was previously impossible to reach and reduce the impact of
inefficient logistics on the environment. In 2002, Europe came up with an overall
transportation project that used a monitoring system to control ships, in order to avoid and
eliminate marine pollution caused by transportation. Meanwhile, Freight Forward Europe
(FFE) has developed a set of environmental standards corresponding to transportation,
loading/unloading and management. It also encourages corporations to apply the new concept
of green logistics in their logistics activities and step up their R&D and application of green
logistics techniques.