Context and policy framework

Amsterdam is the cultural and financial capital of the Netherlands. The city has approximately 800,000 inhabitants and receives about 20 million visitors a year. Every day approximately 3,500 trucks and 25,000 vans drive into the city, with the consequent problems of congestion as well as air pollution. The air quality in Amsterdam is below the European average and therefore, the city is investing in different measures and infrastructure to reduce the emissions of exhaust gases and carbon dioxide.

Amsterdam gained a strong experience with electric vehicles during the last decades and has deployed strong policies to encourage their uptake. The city is investing in different measures and infrastructure to reduce vehicles emissions. The most relevant example is the establishment of a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) to meet air quality regulations. However, the municipality is continuously investigating new measures to encourage the use of zero-emission vehicles.

The City of Amsterdam would like to increase the operational effectiveness of the freight sector and has put in place several measures to achieve this goal. As in the case of Rotterdam, Amsterdam    has won the “Lean  and  Green  Award” from the national Connekt programme for sustainable logistics  and both cities are part of the Green Deal initiative which aims at zero emission logistics by 2025. The City is also using innovative procurement of goods to consolidate, reduce the trips and the vehicle emissions from urban deliveries. A recent case focuses on paper supply to the municipality buildings.

Solutions implemented in FREVUE

The City of Amsterdam conducts (in cooperation with Rotterdam) activities with local partners Heineken and TNT. Heineken is testing the use of large electric trucks to assess their viability. The success of the activities in FREVUE could lead to TNT Express to expand to 100% electric systems in all European cities where they operate. A successful operation could also encourage Heineken to reach its ambition of replacing all secondary distribution for beverages with electric trucks by 2020.

Cooperation between FREVUE and Green Deal Zero Emission Urban Logistics

Parties in the Green Deal Zero Emission Urban Logistics share the goal of urban deliveries with the lowest possible emissions by 2025, the ultimate aim being to reduce harmful emissions (CO2, NOx, particulate matter) due to urban logistics to zero. The parties are also striving to limit noise emissions. While today there is not yet any large-scale production of heavy duty zero-emission commercial vehicles, electric delivery vans are available. The first heavier, customised zero-emission trucks are now in use. In addition commercial vehicles with hybrid drive trains are in development whereby conventional fuel will be used on motorways but for the “last mile” in the city zero-emission technology can be used.

Green Deal Zero Emission Urban Logistics brochure (PDF)

Relevant local websites and documents