14 April 2021 - Stuart is rolling out a mobile depot trial with the City of Paris and the 15^th district’s town hall on a dedicated parking space to limit carbon emissions, noise pollution and traffic congestion associated with urban delivery.

 

From the beginning of April and for a 6-month period, a parking space will host a large capacity vehicle (from 12 to 20m³) that will instantly dispatch parcels on electrically assisted bicycles with trailers (K-Ryole) to carry out efficient and eco-responsible delivery road in the niegnbourhood. This new logistics model brings the goods closer to the consumer and promotes active last-mile delivery. In the long term, this trial could be continued in the district and extended beyond in order to strengthen the same-day or by-appointment delivery service, which is now essential to retailers and e-traders.

Urban logistics challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic

The challenge of last-mile delivery is a major one for cities: in Paris, delivery is responsible for 15-20% of urban traffic and 25% of carbon emissions. The growth in delivery volumes is thus bringing about major structural changes that require logistics to be placed at the heart of cities. The emergence of the concept of the fifteen-minute city, where everything you need can be found within 15 minutes around your home, raises the question of how to make better use of the space available in cities, particularly in terms of mobility and urban logistics.

"The COVID-19 crisis has allowed us to test new approaches and refine our urban logistics model by working extremely responsively, hand in hand with our client partners and public authorities," says Damien Bon, CEO of Stuart.
"Thanks to our experience, we are now ready to take Stuart to the next level in order to cater for greater parcel volumes and absorb more volatile peaks in activity via larger urban warehouses and a rollout of mobile depots in cities."

Reinventing urban logistics in partnership with public players

The various urban constraints (land, saturation of spaces, etc.) are urging us to rethink the current logistics model and undertake new forms of urban delivery through experiments with cities. In this context, Stuart requested the assistance of the City of Paris to define and implement an experimental mobile depot project. The 15^th district’s town hall, in charge of innovative projects in its area, has responded positively to this initiative by making a public space available for this trial, with the aim of improving the quality of life of its citizens.

"Stuart's initiative seems particularly timely to us at a time when the environmental dimension is more important than ever and when the use of active mobility, particularly suited to last-mile delivery in a city as dense as Paris, combines advantages (decongestion of streets, absence of CO2 emissions, silence, etc.) that everyone is now calling for," says Philippe Goujon, Mayor of the 15^th district of Paris.

Urban warehouses for more efficient and ecological logistics

Since 2020, Stuart has been developing its network of urban warehouses to absorb and pool incoming logistics flows in cities in order to distribute delivery rounds directly to the closest areas and eventually to supply mobile depots to cover more distant delivery areas. In line with the "zero net artificialisation" objective set by the government as part of the biodiversity plan, these urban depots are based on the revaluation of existing spaces in the heart of cities rather than building everything from scratch. The opening of a Stuart urban warehouse in Paris-Bercy allows same-day delivery or delivery by appointment of orders that will now transit through this former SNCF freight station of more than 1,200 m².

"This model drastically reduces the number of bulky delivery vehicles circulating in Paris, by bringing goods as close as possible to their destination, and by replacing high-emission vehicles with bicycles with electric trailers," explains Damien Bon, CEO of Stuart. "
The ambition in the long term is to create a network of urban warehouses and mobile depots that is most suitable for both urban users and parcel delivery operators, in order to best meet consumer needs and adapt to peaks in activity."

About Stuart

Stuart is an express delivery technology platform that connects merchants and e-retailers to the largest fleet of location-based couriers to accelerate the transportation of goods and merchandise around town. The company now operates in four countries: France, United Kingdom, Spain, Poland and has more than 2,000 business customers in 110 European cities. In France, Stuart supports Carrefour, Franprix, Monoprix, Fnac-Darty, Sephora, Nespresso, Decathlon, Zara and Sézane in the digital transformation of their delivery services.
Stuart joined Le Groupe La Poste in March 2017 and now relies on the DPDgroup network, Europe's No. 1 transport company, to develop its activities and become the European leader in last-mile delivery.
For more information visit stuart.com