DHL extends City Hub concept in the Netherlands

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 Utrecht (NL) and Frankfurt(D).

These pilots combined the use of a DHL “Cubicycle” (a cargo bike that can carry a container) with a customized trailer carrying up to four containers. A DHL van brings the trailer into the city centre, where the containers are then loaded on to Cubicycles for last mile delivery. The project in The Hague will see a modified pickup version of a StreetScooter and a Nissan e-NV200 take on the last-mile delivery of up to three containers each. Larger trucks will bring larger numbers of 125kg containers into the city centre.

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“As one step on our longer-term journey to reduce emissions to zero by 2050, Deutsche Post DHL Group has set a target of operating 70% of first- and last-mile delivery services with clean transport modes by 2025. The City Hub concept is one innovative way in which DHL Express is contributing towards this target,” said John Pearson, CEO, DHL Express Europe to Post&Parcel. “With its simple use of standardized containers, the City Hub is a flexible solution that will allow us to introduce more electric vehicles, bicycles and even walking couriers on inner-city routes. This, in turn, will give us an even sharper competitive advantage as more and more cities around the world focus on promoting sustainable transport systems and competition intensifies among delivery companies over the last-mile.”

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Source and pictures: DHL Netherlands

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