In cooperation with the municipality of Rotterdam, industry association TLN and Evofendex have started the Advisory Group City Logistics Rotterdam. The advisory group, which provides solicited and unsolicited advice on supply chain and city logistics, meets four times a year. The first meeting took place on 3 June.
Grant brought forward
As the subsidy pot ran out within a day, the cabinet is raising the ceiling for the E-truck subsidy from €13.5 million to €25 million. Therefore, more requests can be honoured. However, this is not extra money; the money from other years will be brought forward. Therefore, from 2024 there will be no more subsidy available, state secretary Vivianne Heijnen (Infrastructure and Water Management, CDA) writes to the House of Representatives. Many municipalities are introducing a zero emission zone, making the purchase of an electric truck or hydrogen truck necessary.
If it were up to the municipality of The Hague and the province of South Holland, installation companies would say goodbye to their delivery vans. They often do not need them for their work: an electric cargo bike is an excellent alternative, according to the government. With support from Techniek NL, the industry association for the installation sector, the campaign 'Kick your van out' has been launched. An entrepreneur may use a large or extra-large Urban Arrow for four to six weeks free of charge. Such a cargo bike travels 25 km per hour and can carry up to 125 kg. The battery has a range of 40 kilometres.
Shops supplied emission-free
In Amsterdam, too, entrepreneurs will start delivering by cargo bike if it is up to the municipality and the local entrepreneurs' association. A pilot will start in the Haarlemmerstraat, a busy street with delivery restaurants and shops. The bike is offered by e-sharing company Cargoroo. For 3 euros an hour, the bike can be rented, reports Het Parool. The bicycle pilot will run for seven months. Besides the Haarlemmerstraat, there are also plans to apply the concept at the Utrechtsestraat and Czaar Peterstraat.
Albert Heijn is accelerating its switch to electric transport. The supermarket chain will supply its shops in the city centres of The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam and Utrecht with zero emissions. The Hague will be up and running by the end of 2022, with the other three cities following in 2023. This will involve home delivery of groceries, as well as supplying shops in the centres of the major cities, the company announced.
Shortage of grid capacity
In 2050, the growth of electric trucks and delivery vans on business parks will create an additional electricity demand of 10.7 terawatt hours. This means a substantial grid impact on off-take and is already leading to more local electricity grid bottlenecks in the short term, knowledge centre ElaadNL reports in its report 'business parks on the move' published this quarter. "Currently, we see that over 15 per cent of business parks already have structural shortages of grid capacity or advance notices thereof issued by grid operators."
Incidentally, there is also a shortage of power outside business parks. By 2025, there will be thousands of neighbourhoods where no more charging stations can be added, the same knowledge centre warns on BNR. There will then be almost 5,000 charging points and that will put a lot of pressure on grid capacity.
1000 new hubs
To tackle urban distribution problems, Paris is coming up with a comprehensive plan. A thousand new hubs are to be built, the number of electric charging stations and hydrogen stations is to be doubled, and construction companies are to transport their materials by water more often. There will also be a thousand parking spaces for electric cargo bikes. This is contained in the urban logistics plan 2022-2026, which Warehousetotaal writes about.
Supermarket chain PLUS is going to cooperate with Instabox. As a result, up to 550 parcel lockers will be installed in supermarkets throughout the Netherlands. Customers will receive a tracking link with the exact time the parcel can be picked up, as well as a text message with a PIN code to open the parcel locker. The parcel can be picked up whenever the customer wants, often as early as the same day. This prevents deliverymen from coming to the door in vain while customers are not at home.
More money in logistic startups
Lenders are putting more and more money into logistics startups. In the first quarter of 2022, it was already $8.5 billion, according to a study by McKinsey that Nieuwsblad Transport writes about. In 2020, the total investment amount for logistics startups was still at $12.6 billion. Startups that have devised logistics solutions for e-commerce, such as food couriers, 'last mile' delivery companies, data companies and road freight platforms, are particularly popular among investors.
