by Walther Ploos van Amstel
The parcel market is completely broken. Too much goes wrong structurally: shipments disappear, delivery windows are unreliable, customer service is unreachable, and consumers are losing trust. At the same time, working conditions have been under pressure for years. Flexible contracts, extreme workload, and razor-thin margins form the foundation of a system that is increasingly cracking. …
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 …
As cities introduce zero-emission zones, urban logistics is undergoing a fundamental transformation. This study examines how light electric freight vehicles (LEFVs) are being integrated into last-mile delivery in the Netherlands and how this transition reshapes logistics operations, urban infrastructure, and governance. Rather than focusing solely on vehicle technology, the paper highlights the organisational and spatial …
Growing pressure to decarbonise urban freight has intensified interest in cargo bikes as a low-emission alternative to conventional delivery vehicles. Grubmüller and colleagues provide a structured overview of how cargo bikes are currently used in logistics and of the emerging business models around them. Rather than focusing solely on environmental benefits, the paper examines the …
The rapid growth of e-commerce has placed unprecedented pressure on last-mile logistics, now one of the most expensive and environmentally impactful segments of the supply chain. In response, Ferreira and Esperança (2025) investigate how integrating electric vehicles (EVs) and artificial intelligence (AI) can jointly transform urban delivery systems into more efficient, sustainable operations. Their study …
This new paper develops a governance framework for Low- and Zero-Emission Zones (LEZs and ZEZs) tailored to cities in the Global South, using Rio de Janeiro as a case study. While such zones are widely implemented in European cities, their transfer to rapidly growing cities in developing contexts is far more complex due to institutional, …
Amsterdam maps the business case for waterborne urban logistics: it is not automatically a ‘no-regret’ option. The City of Amsterdam has been exploring for several years whether water transport can play a larger role in urban logistics. A recent exploratory cost–benefit analysis compared the societal and financial impacts of waterborne transport with road transport and …