Antwerp cargo bike project avoids 3 000 van trips every year

In Antwerp, city distributor CityDepot and bicycle courier Cargo Velo had some 3 000 delivery trips made by cargo bikes, which delivery vans would have normally made.

The trips were made during the first year of their collaboration.  Both consider this a success and are continuing their collaboration.

Sustainable distribution

CityDepot, a division of BD Logistics, has eight branches on the outskirts of cities in Belgium from where it does sustainable distribution: small deliveries are done by bicycle couriers and large ones by electric or CNG delivery vans.

CityDepot works with various partners to ensure that the most optimal mode of transport is chosen to minimize traffic movements. This should benefit road safety as well as limit CO2 emissions.

From 2015 to 2019, CityDepot was a subsidiary of bpost. At the end of 2019, however, the postal company sold the city distribution company.

Ecosystem

In Antwerp, CityDepot and cycle courier Cargo Velo have been working together in co-spaces since September 2020. According to CityDepot, this has led to 5 to 10% of the volume passing through these depots being transported by bike over the past year.

Every month we talk about 200 to 400 deliveries that would normally be sent by van, but now go to the customer by cargo bike. Antwerp alderman for mobility, Koen Kennis (N-VA), calls the project “exactly what Antwerp needs”.