by Walther Ploos van Amstel
City logistics is poised for major growth. Over the next decade, the city logistics market in the Netherlands is expected to grow from roughly €10–12 billion to €20–25 billion, with significantly higher-value-added services. This is no longer a niche play, but a full-fledged market with its own dynamics. And in the debate about zero-emission zones, …
With the new round of the Dutch AanZET subsidy now open, the electrification of heavy-duty road transport is getting another push. It is badly needed. Many carriers still underestimate how fast and how fundamentally the sector is about to change. Decarbonisation requires uncomfortable strategic choices: invest, cooperate, or outsource. Companies without a strategy risk being …
The Amsterdam metropolitan region faces a major spatial challenge. New housing, the energy transition, green infrastructure, and economic activity are all competing for scarce urban land. At the same time, the city aims to become fully circular by 2050. That immediately raises spatial questions: which circular functions are needed, how much space each requires, and …
The rapid growth of e-commerce has intensified pressure on urban logistics systems, particularly in the last mile. This segment is both the most expensive and environmentally impactful part of parcel distribution, due to fragmented routes, failed deliveries, and a lack of economies of scale. To mitigate these externalities, parcel lockers (PLs) have emerged as a …
On 9 December 2025, ALICE and POLIS jointly organised the members-only webinar “From Movers to Enablers: the role of logistics in circular supply chains”. The session brought together logistics experts, researchers, and city representatives to explore how logistics service providers can move beyond traditional transport roles and become key enablers of circular economy models. The webinar focused on the growing importance of reverse logistics in enabling reuse, repair, …
Electric Road Systems (ERS) – allowing trucks to charge while driving via overhead lines, inductive systems, or rail – are often presented as a promising solution for one of the main bottlenecks in heavy-duty electrification: large battery packs, long charging downtimes, and limited range. In theory, ERS could accelerate the shift to clean regional and …
McKinsey’s recent analysis of the automotive software and electronics landscape shows that the global automotive sector is undergoing a profound structural shift. Vehicles are rapidly evolving from primarily mechanical products into software-driven platforms. While the traditional automotive market grows at only around 1 percent annually, software and electronics are projected to grow by more than …
Artificial Intelligence has moved beyond exploratory pilots in transport and logistics. While autonomous trucks and drone delivery continue to grab headlines, the real transformation is happening deeper inside the supply chain stack: in planning, forecasting, routing, exception management, terminal operations, data orchestration, and real-time decision support. The exploratory study on AI in transport & logistics …
The construction sector is entering a strategic inflection point. Climate adaptation, housing demand, sustainability regulation, material scarcity, energy transition, mobility decarbonisation, and spatial constraints are converging. This combination makes one thing clear: linear construction is no longer viable. The Interreg ASSET project examined how a circular built environment can be spatially, logistically, and economically implemented in Europe, …
Municipalities often assume that introducing or expanding a zero-emission zone (ZE zone) will be enough to decarbonize urban logistics. The reality is more complex. According to the latest figures from the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO), more than 50,000 electric light commercial vehicles (LCVs) are currently on the road in the Netherlands. Yet adoption is far …