by Walther Ploos van Amstel
For decades, package visibility has depended on a driver remembering to scan. UPS wants to change that — and its rollout of RFID sensing across the entire U.S. small-package network is the most concrete step any major carrier has taken to make that happen. As of this week, every UPS delivery vehicle in the country …
London has a congestion problem, a pollution problem, and an illegal e-bike problem. A newly launched coalition thinks a shared network of urban microhubs can tackle all three at once. The Urban Microhub Alliance (UMA) officially kicked off in London this week, uniting e-mobility operator Port with delivery firms and parking operators including Deliveroo, Apcoa, …
Some innovations change the world. Others mainly change the way we think about the future. Hardt Hyperloop, declared bankrupt this week, probably belongs to that second category. Yet that does not mean its significance for logistics and transport has disappeared. Over the past years, Hardt worked step by step on that idea. In Veendam, a …
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 …
Urban logistics is under pressure. Cities want fewer vehicles, lower emissions, and less congestion, while home delivery demand continues to grow. The Picnic case shows that these goals are not mutually exclusive when data, operations, and vehicle technology are tightly integrated. Picnic operates one of Europe’s largest fully electric last-mile fleets, with around 4,500 custom-built …
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 …
The Dutch Labour Inspectorate is preparing its toughest intervention yet against Uber Eats, proposing to shut down the platform in the Amsterdam region for one month. The move follows years of enforcement actions and repeated findings that the company has failed to adequately prevent undocumented workers from operating as meal couriers. NRC reports about it. …
Urban logistics is getting a digital upgrade. Geopost, Europe’s leading parcel delivery network, has launched Geopost Vision. This is a groundbreaking initiative that transforms its 65,000-vehicle fleet into a continent-wide street-level imaging platform. Turning Deliveries into Data Every day, Geopost’s delivery vans traverse over 2 billion kilometers annually across 22 European countries. Rather than letting …
In Poland, parcel lockers are as standard as ATMs. Some 25,000 units cover the country; at supermarkets, between apartment blocks, on busy street corners. Enter a code, the door clicks open, done. InPost, the yellow icon of Polish e-commerce, turned lockers into national infrastructure. CEO Rafal Brzoska already believed in 2009 that home delivery was …