Tesco is transporting freight by canal in an effort to reduce emissions, The Guardian Unlimited reports.

Until two years ago, Tesco’s wine from Australia, California, Chile and Argentina used to arrive at ports in southern England in bottles. Then the company switched to bulk tanks, with the wine transported north by road.

Now the wine is shipped into Liverpool’s Royal Seaforth dock and transferred to 20ft containers each holding the equivalent of 32,000 75cl bottles of wine. The barge makes the trip three times a week. The journeys, according to Tesco, take 50 trucks off the road every week and cut carbon emissions by 80 percent.

“Reducing carbon emissions and looking at how we can make the business more environmentally friendly is a priority, and by 2012 we aim to halve the amount of carbon emitted per case of goods delivered,” said Laurie McIlwee, the supermarket chain’s distribution director.