Dachser Germany won an award for city logistics with its combination of micro hubs, electric delivery bikes, and trucks. The jury recognized that the emission-free solutions take into account both social and economic aspects and that these can also be implemented for other logistics service providers.
Dachser’s emission-free delivery methods
The award-winning project covers an area of approximately four square kilometers in the city center of Stuttgart where all shipments are delivered without emissions. The fully electric FUSO eCanter delivers groupage shipments directly to B2B and B2C customers or transports them to the micro hub in cooperation with partner Velo CARRIER. There, the pallets are unloaded and transferred to electric exchange cycle bikes, or ‘Speed Pedelec’, for delivery.
When the 18-ton Daimler eActros electric truck is available, Dachser also wants to implement it in these projects. The charging point for the electric delivery methods is located in the Dachser branch Kornwestheim north of Stuttgart, which – like the other German branches of the logistics service provider – operates 100 percent on hydropower. The new generation of drivers is trained in electric trucks, making them fully familiar with electric mobility.
City-specific solutions
Dachser’s emission-free delivery is based on a modular “toolbox”. Depending on the requirements profile of the city in question, the local Dachser site can implement customized solutions. And part of it is finding the right combination of vehicles for deliveries in the city center. With regard to the entire transport – a large part of which is still carried out with conventional diesel trucks – the emission-free “toolbox” reduces the CO2 emissions per shipment by 24 percent, the emissions of PM10 particles by 32 percent and nitrogen oxide NO2 by 26 percent.
“In the area of city distribution, we have made a promising start in Stuttgart, but we still have a long way to go, especially when it comes to the availability of trucks with alternative drive systems,” explains Stefan Hohm of Dachser. “For all new, more sustainable inner-city distribution, all parties involved need to collaborate more intensively. We are not looking for just one solution, but we want to combine all possibilities so that we can continue to optimize loading and unloading, our routes and delivery times.”
Source: Dachser.