by Walther Ploos van Amstel
With the establishment of limited traffic areas, delivery time windows, low emission zones, development of pedestrian shopping areas and the evolution of e-commerce, the logistics sector faces new challenges. There is a need to test and implement new methods for pick-up and delivery of goods. Micro-consolidation represents a solution to deliver goods in a more …
An increase in e-commerce in B2B, B2C and C2C markets has given rise to a greater number of challenges around urban freight: increasing use of public space, pollution levels, noise, road congestion and safety. E-commerce results in more, and smaller, and time critical deliveries in cities. It’s clear that there is a need for improving …
Regulatory policies aim at reducing the negative effects of urban freight transportation, especially those related to traffic, emissions and noise. Nonetheless, stakeholders in city logistics often have divergent objectives, which lead to difficulties upon defining the best possible choices regarding regulation. A new paper on HoReCa deliveries in Paris by MINES ParisTech presents a multi-agent …
Several indicators have been established to monitor and evaluate the sustainability of cities. Urban freight and related transportation activities are under represented in these established frameworks despite the substantial negative impact of urban freight on the environment, society and economy. The result is the lack of an understanding of freight flows’ impact on the liveability of …
Many narrow or crowded downtown streets operate informally as shared streets during rush hour or at lunchtime, but are not regulated as such. A commercial shared street environment should be considered in places where pedestrian activity is high and vehicle volumes are either low or discouraged. Commercial shared streets can be designed for narrow or …
Across Europe there are examples of existing tram networks being used to attract businesses to use the network for urban freight transport. Could this extension help make a success of trams in other cities in the years ahead? The Guardian reports about a number of European initiatives in Dresden (D) and Saint-Étienne (F). These cities using …
A new set of competitors, on-demand urban delivery providers, has recently entered the B2C delivery market. These start-ups, including Deliveroo and Foodora in Europe, as well as DoorDash and Postmates in the United States, offer a different form of service: they integrate demand aggregation via their own mobile platforms with dedicated in-house operations to enable …
DHL Express has extended its City Hub concept for environmentally-friendly urban deliveries to The Hague (NL) with a new pilot involving electric vehicles. This pilot will also deploy Deutsche Post DHL Group’s StreetScooter electric delivery van in the global DHL Express delivery network for the first time. The City Hub concept was first launched in March 2017 in …
The advent of new technologies in last mile deliveries is about to cause a disruption in the traditional business model applied in city logistics. In this context, identifying new business and operations models and vehicles that could be applied for last mile deliveries in urban areas becomes crucial
The light commercial vehicle, or delivery van, is the workhorse of both companies and the self-employed in the Dutch economy. And with good reason: it is a multifunctional and flexible mode of transport and compared to (smaller) trucks and cars it is also cheap to buy and use. Moreover, a ‘lighter’ drivers license B is sufficient to …