Ludwigsburg Launches Pilot Project for Sustainable City Logistics

Together with the three logistics companies DPD, GLS, and Hermes, the city of Ludwigsburg has now launched a pilot project to advance the topic of sustainable mobility in package delivery. Instead of using cars, the package deliveries will be made environmentally friendly with cargo bikes. The Franck area near the train station will serve as a so-called ‘micro-depot’.

(Ludwigsburg) Micro-depots are small distribution centers. They allow for the transfer of packages to cargo bikes at a central location for the ‘last mile’ of delivery. This can replace deliveries made by larger vehicles and vans. In Ludwigsburg, the operators – the three logistics companies DPD, GLS, and Hermes – will start with one electric cargo bike each in the shared space at the Franck area. An expansion of the fleet has already been announced. Each cargo bike can deliver around 100 packages to private customers per day. The focus of the package delivery will be on the Weststadt and the city center.

Micro-depot in Vacant Building

The concept for this pilot project for sustainable logistics has been developed by the three companies in cooperation with the city of Ludwigsburg. The micro-depot will represent a temporary use of a currently vacant building in the Franck area until the end of the year.

“Due to the Corona pandemic, online shopping is becoming more and more part of everyday life for many, and the volume of packages is increasing. It is important to test how package deliveries to private recipients can be handled as smoothly and sustainably as possible – with fewer emissions, such as noise,” explains Matthias Knobloch, head of the sustainable mobility department. The logistics partners also see from experiences in other cities that they can work more flexibly and efficiently in everyday operations with the combination of micro-depots and agile cargo bikes.

Promoting Urban Development

The city of Ludwigsburg wants to support this innovative logistics concept and provides the premises in the Franck area free of charge. Mayor Dr. Matthias Knecht emphasizes: “With this pilot project, we want to promote sustainable logistics as part of sustainable mobility and urban development in Ludwigsburg. Residents benefit from less traffic and emissions, while companies benefit from the opportunity to test more flexible, sustainable, and efficient delivery methods.” If the experiences are positive, further collaborations in logistics are planned.

Photo: © Stadt Ludwigsburg/Benjamin Stollenberg

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