by Walther Ploos van Amstel
With the launch of JoyExpress, the European e-commerce logistics market gets a new serious contender. Backed by JINGDONG Logistics, the logistics arm of JD.com, the company promises same-day and next-day delivery in major cities, integrated installation for large appliances, cold-chain capabilities, and a fully branded last-mile. JoyExpress will initially support Joybuy, JD.com’s new European online …
In 2025, Dutch PostNL continued its strategic transformation from a traditional postal and parcel operator into a digitally driven, data-powered logistics platform. Innovation focused on modernising the digital ecosystem, embedding AI into daily operations, strengthening cybersecurity, and improving customer experience across the entire delivery journey. At the customer interface, the PostNL app became the central …
The article “Modeling the dynamics of freight transport decarbonization: A review and research agenda” (Tavasszy et al., 2026) examines how existing freight transport models largely fail to address the dynamic processes required to achieve climate neutrality. The core question is not whether decarbonization is technically possible, but how long it will take and how reliably …
In his 2026 opinion article in Frontiers in Sustainability, Gilles A. Pache challenges the dominant narrative that e-commerce is inherently less sustainable than brick-and-mortar retail. He argues that environmental performance depends far more on logistics system design than on the retail channel itself. The key determinants are consolidation intensity, routing optimization, fleet composition, demand stability, …
The UK parcel delivery market has reached what InPost describes as a tipping point. Rising e-commerce volumes, time-pressured lifestyles, and persistent last-mile inefficiencies have pushed traditional home delivery models to their limits. Consumers report mounting frustration with missed deliveries, theft, delayed parcels, and inconvenient returns. According to InPost’s July 2025 research, more than one-third of …
Parcel delivery is structurally failing due to a race-to-the-bottom price war that undermines service quality, labour conditions, and customer trust.Consumers face unreliable delivery, poor tracking, and weak customer service, while retailers’ focus on the cheapest delivery shifts responsibility and accelerates the decline in service.The sector needs consolidation, fair pricing, stronger collaboration, and online retailer accountability …
Freight transport accounts for a substantial share of global greenhouse-gas emissions and is expected to grow strongly in the coming decades. Against this backdrop, a new paper examines how academic research addresses the decarbonisation of road freight and urban logistics. The results reveal a rapidly expanding field that remains surprisingly fragmented and heavily technology-centred. Rapid …
The last mile is undergoing a rapid technological shift. Logistics companies are electrifying their fleets and deploying new digital systems for routing, tracking, and delivery management. Artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly built into these systems, promising lower emissions, shorter distances, reduced fuel use, and lower operating costs. But Hanbit Chang’s dissertation, Rerouting the Last-Mile: Contested …
Construction logistics is increasingly recognised as a major blind spot in urban decarbonisation strategies. While attention has focused heavily on parcel delivery and retail freight, construction supply chains generate large freight flows, fragmented deliveries, and significant emissions in cities. This Emerald paper examines how supplier-led consolidation and integrated warehousing can reduce transport inefficiencies and embodied …
Walther Ploos van Amstel, Bram Kin, Hans Quak, Nilesh Anand, and Ron van Duin are proud to present their latest book chapter, ‘Sustainable city logistics‘, which provides a literature overview of modalities in city logistics. Cities are rapidly moving from van- and truck-dominated freight toward multimodal, low-emission logistics systems. Alongside electric vans and trucks, previously …