DHL Express, the world’s leading international express services provider, announced the launch of On Demand Delivery last week. The new service allows shippers and receivers globally to select from a range of standardised delivery options via the On Demand Delivery website, with notifications via email or SMS about a shipment’s progress. The service is specifically tailored to the demands of international e-commerce deliveries, where the majority of shipments are addressed to residential addresses.
With its GoGreen program, DHL want to improve the group’s carbon efficiency by 30 percent by 2020, compared with the base year 2007. A major share of the CO2 emissions is caused on the last mile. In the growing B2C business, this transport segment is an important starting point for improvements. However, fleet replacements by electronic vehicles bears some hurdles for companies: high purchase costs, limited reach, and a limited number of suppliers.
In Amsterdam about 10 percent of inner city distribution is currently effected by bike couriers. They are Carbon-neutral, they can often use shorter routes, and traffic congestion is no longer an issue, as Kees de Lange, Vice President of Operations DHL Express Netherlands, presented the advantages to journalists. In addition to backpack couriers on DHL City Bikes, and the DHL Parcycle cargo bike, offering a transport capacity for 140 litres, the bike model Cubicycle shall be used on a larger scale from Q1/2017. This e-bike has a removable container and can carry up to 125 kg per delivery trip. The specially developed bike shall also be used in Antwerp and Bonn, as well as in all major European cities on the long term.
