LONDON: Kingfisher, owner of Screwfix and B&Q, is on target to reduce its delivery fleet's fuel use by 10% by 2012-13.

The company's latest Corporate Responsibility Report says it has reduced litres of fuel used per cubic metre of product delivered to its stores by 8% since 2007-08 and by 2% in the past year.

The figures cover its own fleet and exclude those of its contractor DHL that handle all deliveries to Screwfix, 70% to B&Q and about a quarter of deliveries to the group's French business Castorama.

Kingfisher credits greater use of double-deck trailers – it has 275 of these in is 720 trailer fleet – for the savings. The company's new £77.4m Swindon distribution centre, which will be fully operational by next year, is expected to reduce road miles and the fleet's CO2 emissions by a further 15%.

In its report, Kingfisher describes a trial of dual-fuel vehicles that started in 2010 as promising, with a projected 22% fuel saving and a 13.4% reduction in CO2 compared with its current fleet based on current data, although it says more work needs to be done to review the cost and payback period.