The ULaaDS team is excited to reveal the four selected Follower cities that will join our first study visit in Mechelen on May 16-17!

Milan (Italy), Gdynia (Poland), Leuven (Belgium) and Helmond (The Netherlands) applied to join the study visit as part of the recently launched ULaaDS peer learning programme, which gives city representatives the opportunity to gain first-hand experience of urban logistics measures implemented in other cities – and specifically the ULaaDS solutions being tested.

The first study visit in Mechelen on May 16-17 2022 will be tailored to the needs of the four Follower Cities and will take on an interactive approach, to facilitate in-depth exchange and strengthen cooperation.

Want to learn more about our host city Mechelen? Check out their city page here, or join us for our upcoming webinar on April 28.

Milan’s Zero-emission logistics transition

The City of Milan is actively working to support a functional and cost-effective environmental transition in the urban freight logistics sector. Daily deliveries are continuously growing in Milan, especially since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. The city sees a clear urgency to act strategically in order to improve the urban goods delivery sector, through a systemic approach. This will only be possible by strengthening collaboration with other cities that are experiencing the same process of change.

Throughout 2022, Milan will be working on the implementation of two pilot projects focused on the zero-emission transition in urban logistics, which involve:

• The use of a freight train to bring goods into the city during off-peak hours, combined with e-vehicles and cargo bikes for last-mile deliveries.
• The promotion of CityHub(s) from where small e-vehicles and cargo bikes will transfer goods to end-users.

Gdynia: solving local urban logistics challenges

In Poland, there is no national policy on green deliveries, which means it is down to individual cities to develop and undertake local acts in a bid to solve urban logistics challenges. Gdynia is one of the forerunners in this field, and together with logistics operators is making the first necessary steps towards a greener and more efficient urban delivery system. 

Gdynia hopes to replicate some of the ULaaDS solutions and schemes like containerised urban last-mile delivery, CargoHitching or the Dual MobiHub. The peer support programme will help the city decide on how many mobility hubs they should implement and which kind, as well as identify the data that needs collecting and the stakeholders to be involved in the process.

Leuven: upgrading the city’s SULP

Leuven hopes to tackle its own logistics challenges by learning lessons from fellow Belgian city Mechelen.

With the success of the Bpost Ecozone in the city centre and parcel lockers available in every neighbourhood, Leuven hopes to take its logistics planning to the next level, with a proactive, carefully crafted SULP (Sustainable Urban Logistics Plan).

This SULP will need to consider the city’s current concerns about liveability (i.e., rising pollution levels and resulting health costs), curbside management (i.e., lack of data on incoming and outgoing traffic), as well as limited capacity (for urban delivery in city centres).

Helmond’s future white label logistics system

Conventionally fuelled heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) are still widely used for delivering goods in Helmond. More than 2000 HGVs circulate each day on one central axis in Helmond’s city centre, which is a source of frustration for citizens, primarily due to the high levels of air and noise pollution.

That’s why the Dutch city wants to develop a new logistics system where clean and soft modes will be favoured.

Helmond hopes the ULaaDS community will help the city stimulate cooperation among key logistics stakeholders to ensure a successful white label logistics system in a car-free zero-emission neighbourhood. 

Join us on April 28 @ 9:30-11:00 CET | Online

Want to meet and discuss with the ULaaDS cities? Join us for the first of a series of webinars exploring sustainable urban logistics solutions in the ULaaDS lighthouse cities.

During this event, you will have the chance to discover the measures that Mechelen is taking to make urban logistics more sustainable in partnership with various stakeholders, namely VIL, UPS, bpost and local partner ECOkoeriers.

We will learn how the city together with bpost has dramatically cut polluting last-mile deliveries, curbing CO2 emissions by 97% and fine particles by 77% and what bpost is planning to implement in ULaaDS to build on this result.

Additionally, we will also explore how the city is setting up an autonomous-driving parcel locker trial in a business district. In this trial, the self-driving vehicle will serve as a moving parcel locker as well as to transport people from a bus stop to their workplace in the business district (a solution that goes under the name of CargoHitching).

Finally, we will learn more about the collaboration between UPS and ECOkoeriers to make logistics even more efficient and discover how reverse logistics can ensure that food waste, paper, cardboard and even dirty diapers are collected and treated sustainably to reduce their impact on the environment. Each presentation will be followed by Q&A.