Register of Initiatives in Pedal Powered Logistics - RIPPL #36 The RIPPL blog continues at the website RIPPL.BIKE |
Photo credit: Tom Parr |
Here’s the chain in full:
Step 1: Plane
Packages arrive at Amsterdam Schipol airport by plane and are sent to a nearby DHL sorting centre. So far, so normal.
Step 2: Electric Vehicle
At the sorting centre, electric vans collect the packages and take them to a dock on the northwestern edge of the city centre. This involves a road journey of around 22km, much of which necessarily takes place through urban areas, so electric vans are used to avoid emissions.
Steps 1 and 2 - electric vehicles at DHL's Amsterdam Schipol Airport depot. Photo credit: DHL |
At the dock, packages are transferred onto a specially adapted boat. Dubbed the “DHL Express Floating Service Centre”, it travels down Amsterdam’s iconic canals to a pre-arranged city centre mooring.
Photo credit: DHL |
Packages are then transferred onto bikes and taken to their final destinations.
DHL cargo bikes loading up at Hollands Glorie. Photo credit: Tom Parr |
Switching to the boat/bike combination allowed DHL to reduce their city centre vehicle fleet from 10 to 2 at the time. This amounted to 150,000km less travelled per annum, saving 12,000 litres of fuel. All whilst the agility of the boat-bike combination allowed overall capacity to grow. To this day however, DHL does still deliver larger packages to the centre with vans, some of which are also served by the boat and some of which are not. Some of these vans are electric and some diesel.
At night Hollands Glorie acts as secure bike storage. Photo credit: Tom Parr |
The Floating Service Center at the dock on the edge of the city centre. In this photo, a bike has come to meet the boat there as well. Photo credit: Tom Parr |
Innovations: multimodal, boat-bike
Organisation: DHL
Sector: Commercial
City: Amsterdam
Country: The Netherlands
Bike Manufacturer(s): Larry vs Harry/Bullitt
Basis: Permanent
Website: www.dhl.com
Facebook: DHL Facebook
Twitter: DHL NL Twitter (Dutch)
Sources:
Carlos Ocampo-Martinez (2015): “Transport of Water versus Transport over Water” p421
Volkskrant: “Pakjesboot DHL mag langer door grachten” (August 1999)(Dutch)
Nieuwsblad Transport: “DHL-boot zorgt voor laag ziekteverzuim” (December 2001)(Dutch)
Reuters: “In Amsterdam, packages travel via canals, bicycles” (July 2009)
Kombuispraat Forum (Feb 2014)(Dutch)
Vereigninging ‘De Binnenvaart’: “Databank: De Binnenvaartschepen > Hollands Glorie” (Dutch)
RIPPL is powered by Topsector Logistiek