Hermes Expands Sustainable City Logistics to Reutlingen

Hermes is further advancing its commitment to green city logistics. In the city of Reutlingen, as well as in Pfullingen and Lichtenstein, nine new electric vehicles have been in operation since mid-August, moving around 1,200 shipments daily over a distance of 810 kilometers emissions-free. They replace previously used diesel transporters.

(Hamburg/Reutlingen) Annually, the nine new electric vehicles from Hermes result in a savings of nearly 70 tons of CO₂. Particularly in the heavily nitrogen dioxide-polluted Reutlingen, the expansion of emissions-free delivery is an important signal regarding sustainability. In the near future, Hermes will intensify green delivery in other cities in the Stuttgart region as well.

“We are pleased that we can successfully advance emissions-free delivery in more and more cities,” says Marco Schlüter, Chief Operations Officer of Hermes Germany. “Nationwide, we are continuously bringing more electrically operated vehicles onto the roads, thereby reducing CO₂ emissions. For us, electromobility is a crucial lever for our vision of sustainable city logistics.” The electrification of the vehicle fleet is important everywhere, but especially in cities heavily burdened by air pollutants like Reutlingen. Reutlingen ranks among the ten German cities with the highest average nitrogen dioxide levels per cubic meter of air in 2019 and 2020¹ – the need for action is correspondingly great.

Electromobility for Livable (Inner) Cities

To make Reutlingen less polluting and thus more livable, Hermes has been using nine new electric transporters since mid-August. With these, the parcel service delivers around 1,200 packages and parcels emissions-free daily in ten out of 12 city districts of Reutlingen, as well as in the neighboring towns of Pfullingen and Lichtenstein. This accounts for about 80 percent of the shipment volume in the corresponding area. Over the year, the deployed electric vehicles enable a savings of nearly 70 tons of CO₂. For comparison: The annual CO₂ emissions of a German citizen amounted to about 7.9 tons in 2019.²

Model Concept

“Efficient inner-city logistics and ecological responsibility go hand in hand,” says Marco Schlüter, “and electric vehicles can combine both aspects – if the necessary charging infrastructure is consistently considered.” The charging infrastructure is the crucial element for emissions-free delivery by electrically operated vehicles. At the delivery base in Reutlingen, it was specifically created for the use of the vehicles. The acceptance and progress of local partners show that Hermes is on the right track with its approach, as Marko Hudicsek, Manager Last Mile in the Stuttgart Area, knows: “We are glad that our service partners on the last mile are taking this path with us and are engaging exemplary, just like here in Reutlingen.” In the long term, Hermes will continue to advance green city logistics nationwide – and thus also in Baden-Württemberg. In Heilbronn, for example, delivery to the doorstep is already exclusively electric, with more cities following successively. In June, Hermes created a blueprint for sustainable city logistics with Green Delivery Berlin. The logistics provider aims to deliver emissions-free in the city centers of the 80 largest German cities by 2025.

¹ Source: https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/954311/umfrage/staedte-mit-den-hoechsten-stickstoffdioxidwerten-in-deutschland/² Source: https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/153528/umfrage/co2-ausstoss-je-einwohner-in-deutschland-seit-1990/

Photo: © Hermes