Author archives
LEAD report sheds light on the main challenges in city logistics

The resilience of the logistics chains is essential and has been increasingly put to test with the dawn of on-demand logistics, attempting to accommodate citizen’s expectations for fast delivery at low or even or zero cost. City logistics have long been an important element of sustainable urban mobility, with its importance being further reinforced with the …
New models for modeling urban air quality. Do we need to change our policies?

It was a tough week for air quality folks. Suddenly, wood smoke is more important than traffic emissions. Even more harmful than smoking. Painful for policymakers. Until last year, home biomass burners were still getting subsidies for their poisonous smoke. We know better now. It is painful because those air quality people want us to …
What is the value of an online groceries shopper? It’s complicated…

The stock markets reacted negatively to the AholdDelhaize financial report for 2020. At the start of the AEX-trading day, the stock opened 5 percent lower. Boom, a billion stock market value gone. Despite strong growth figures, investors were disappointed with the lower net profit due to setbacks in the US; including investments in local distribution centers …
Court: Dutch Deliveroo drivers are not self-employed
Royal Mail is testing call-and-check services in Jersey

Loneliness is increasingly being recognized as a public health issue. Nearly one out of five of all adults in the UK feel lonely most or all the time. Health implications of loneliness include heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer’s. In support of the UK’s loneliness strategy, Call&Check partnered with the Royal Mail to check on older …
On-demand food delivery: a literature review

Due to its success and the significant complexities behind it, the on-demand food delivery (ODFD) business has been gaining the interest of academics. ODFD is the delivery of freshly prepared meals from restaurants to customers enabled by online platforms. The purpose of a paper by Seghezzi et. al. is twofold: first, to review the extant …
New research: 1 out of 5 premature deaths due to PM2.5 caused by fossil fuel

The burning of fossil fuels (coal, petrol, diesel, and wood) is a major source of airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and a key contributor to the global burden of premature mortality and disease. Global Burden of Disease (GBD) reports only the health impacts of total PM2.5 and does not distinguish mortality from fossil-fuel derived PM2.5 and that …
Waste collection with barges in Leiden (NL)

CityBarge, Renewi, and their logistics partners are starting to transport commercial waste on the canals of Leiden (NL). CityBarge’s mission is to make cities more liveable by restoring existing canals and using them for city logistics. Through a combination of a zero-emission pusher tug and pushed barges, logistics flows in the inner city are transferred …
Uber: more revenue in delivery than in mobility in 2020

In the fourth quarter of 2020 ‘delivery’ is now bigger than ‘mobility’. Mobility (gross bookings fourth quarter 2020): $6.79 billion, down 50% from a year ago. Delivery (gross bookings): $10,1 billion, up 130% from a year ago. For all of 2020, Uber’s net losses amounted to $6,8 billion, around a 20% improvement from a staggering $8,5 billion loss …