by Walther Ploos van Amstel
Barcelona is to become the first Spanish city to implement a so-called ‘Amazon tax,’ targeting online sellers such as e-commerce giant Amazon. The levy aims to tax these companies for using public space by delivery vehicles and to level the playing field for local small businesses. From February 2023, all postal operators with an annual …
Over 5 percent of Europeans die prematurely because of inadequate air quality; poor air is unhealthy. The EU Environment Agency presented new figures on air quality. In 2020, 96% of the European population was exposed to more particulate matter (PM2.5) than the World Health Organization considers healthy. NOx and Ozone also cause health problems. The …
The recent proposal for the new Euro 7 standards to reduce pollutant emissions from vehicles, although taking some positive steps in the right direction, was met with serious concern by POLIS and Eurocities. Both organisations penned a joint letter urging EU policymakers to review the lack of ambition in the proposal, along with its increased …
The transport of goods, equipment, and waste to, from, in, and through urban areas (city or urban logistics) is essential for the economic vitality of the city but, at the same time, makes urban environmental and social targets more difficult to achieve The European Green Deal and the UN Sustainability Goals also challenge the ways …
Van Duin, Ploos van Amstel and Quak (2022) wrote a chapter in Innovations in Transport explaining the growth in light electric freight vehicles. Literature on ex-post analysis based on real cases with LEFV usage is limited. The application of the Technological Innovation System (TIS) framework can provide insight into the cumulative systematic change toward more …
China internet giant Alibaba Thursday reported September-quarter results that beat earnings but showed another quarter of weak revenue performance. The e-commerce firm reported adjusted earnings of $1.82 per U.S. share on revenue of $29.12 billion. On a year-over-year basis, Alibaba’s earnings rose 15% while sales increased 3%. In the prior quarter, revenue fell by 4%. Cainiao Logistics …
Ten more countries have supported a Dutch initiative for cleaner heavy road transport vehicles like buses and lorries. The countries in question are Ukraine, The United States, Aruba, Belgium, Ireland, the Dominican Republic, Curacao, Croatia, Liechtenstein, and Lithuania. Today they signed an agreement to ensure that all new lorries and buses from 2040 onwards in …
Truck parking, especially curb space management in cities is a key challenge faced by urban freight policy makers and transportation planners. A new paper analyzes truck parking patterns in urban freight loading zones by jointly modeling the vehicle arrival rates and the parking durations. Three models were explored: Count data (Negative Binomial) for vehicle arrivals. Survival …
Delivery shame? Delivery pride! Anyone concerned about the environment will order online from now on. This is two to three times less harmful to the environment than going to the store yourself. Reports on the environmental impact of e-commerce are based on solid research. Researchers agree that there is no reason for concern from a …
Challenger in the Dutch parcel market Instabox Netherlands (and Red Je Pakketje) has been declared bankrupt. However, an internal email reveals that the company will soon have a consultation with staff and the appointed trustee Mr. Voermans. The parent company Instabox was founded in 2015 in Stockholm and operates the most extensive network of parcel …