by Walther Ploos van Amstel
Urban freight is competing for an increasingly scarce resource: curb space. The growth of e-commerce, grocery deliveries, on-demand services and ride-hailing has intensified pressure on city streets, while many cities continue to redesign public space primarily for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. The result is a growing mismatch between freight demand and curb availability, leading …
Shippers hold the steering wheel in the transition to electric trucks. The problem of misaligned incentives: who pays for the transition? Transport companies do not determine the pace of electrification. Shippers do. That may sound counterintuitive, but it reflects one of the biggest structural challenges facing the road freight sector. While carriers invest hundreds of …
Electric trucks are steadily moving from pilot projects to mainstream city logistics. A new report by C40 Cities, the University of Exeter, Arup and Laneshift argues that cities can accelerate this transition by combining regulation, charging infrastructure and long-term policy certainty. Their central message is compelling: electrification reaches a “tipping point” only when three conditions …
The Laneshift program, a joint initiative by C40 Cities and The Climate Pledge, has spent three years proving the business case for electric freight trucks in India, Brazil, and Mexico. The 2025 Impact Report presents the results. For transport managers watching the global transition, the numbers are worth knowing. What was deployed 357 electric freight …
The Dutch Clean Air Agreement is outperforming expectations. That deserves recognition — municipalities have worked hard on this for years. But those responsible for air quality policy know that the next challenge is already visible and more complex. RIVM is clear: under the current adopted policy, the stricter 2030 European standards will not be met …
Urban freight policy typically operates in silos. Vehicle access regulations — low-emission zones, weight restrictions, time windows, congestion charges — are designed and evaluated separately from loading zone management. A new study from Budapest University of Technology and Economics asks whether that separation reflects reality, or whether cities that invest in one tend to invest …
The Last Mile Innovation Report 2026 provides one of the most comprehensive overviews of innovations currently reshaping parcel delivery. Covering AI, transport management systems, electric vehicles, microhubs, cargo bikes, returns logistics, computer vision, and parcel lockers, the report argues that the last mile is evolving from a simple delivery function into a strategic operating system …
The International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT), working with leading EV deployment practitioners, has published nine principles to close a structural gap: vehicle electrification is outpacing utilities’ ability to energize the charging infrastructure that supports it. Left unaddressed, this mismatch risks higher electricity prices, slower EV adoption, and the erosion of public support for electrification. …
Les Echos writes: “Amazon, Shein et les autres… Les livraisons de colis représentent déjà 20 % du trafic routier en Ile-de-France”. True or fake news? A new research note from L’Institut Paris Region puts a striking number on a trend most of us feel intuitively: 315 million parcels were delivered in Île-de-France in 2025, the result of …
A new McKinsey analysis describes the US distribution sector as entering a phase of “permanent volatility,” with AI acting as the defining force. While the findings focus on US distributors, the structural shifts—digital expectations, M&A dynamics, and the erosion of traditional advantages—carry clear implications for city logistics and supply chain players globally. Theme 1: AI …