Urban Freight Strategy for Groningen City Centre
All the logistics stakeholders, including project managers Jeroen Berends and Sjouke van der Vlugt, recognize the urgency to organize urban logistics differently. Jeroen: “As one of the fastest growing cities in the Netherlands, we can easily predict an increase in logistics traffic in the coming years, along with the inherent negative impacts, such as congestion and unsafe traffic situations for pedestrians and cyclists in the city centre. Not to mention noise nuisance and air quality problems.”
Entrepreneurs, transporters and the government must take action to organize city logistics in a cleaner, more efficient way and with less nuisance in order to improve the quality of life in the inner city.
The transition to more efficient and cleaner city logistics requires a new policy framework. “We see a future ahead of us with fewer and ‘greener’ vehicles that are more suitable for the size and scale of our narrow streets,” Sjouke adds. “Such as small electric freight vehicles and cargo bikes.”
When presenting the strategy for urban freight in the centre, the city will announce the contours of the expansion of the time window area and the Zero Emission zone for city logistics that will come into effect in 2025. The vision also includes flanking measures to ensure that the time window area and the Zero Emission (ZE) zone actually contribute to improving the quality of life in the city centre. “Our new policy includes a set of different measures and regulations that both facilitate and stimulate alternative 'clean' logistics services, like delivery via hubs,” says Jeroen.
You can find more information about the Surflogh pilots under the PILOTS section.