Making the famous last mile of delivery more environmentally friendly and also cheaper is the goal of the GrazLog project funded by the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology and led by the AIT Center for Energy.
In the course of this year's EL-MOTION congress, GrazLog was presented with the EL-MO Award, the prize for particularly innovative projects for the transformation of commercial transport towards CO2 neutrality.
The heart of GrazLog is an urban logistics center, a so-called City Hub, where the delivery and consolidation of goods as well as returns are handled in one. For the first time in Austria, this City Hub will be operated close to the city center and in a cooperative manner, and will be available to any service provider.
Environmentally friendly vehicles, such as cargo bicycles or electric vehicles, will be used for last-mile transport. Optimized route planning and space utilization, as well as the neutral operator structure are further plus points of the pilot project, which is unique in Austria.
"We are very pleased to receive the EL-MO Award for the GrazLog project, a unique pilot project for emission-free parcel delivery in urban areas. With the help of a so-called "City Hub", we have created a cooperative logistics concept for the city center of Graz together with our project partners. The "City Hub" is the central hub for the delivery of goods and returns and enables efficient consolidation. Emission-free cargo bikes or electric transporters are used for delivery and pick-up. We are particularly pleased that the EL-MO Award recognizes not only the complex logistical planning but also the emission-free delivery aspect. Awards like this create greater visibility - we hope this will inspire cities and regions to use sustainable urban logistics," says project manager Martin Reinthaler, AIT Center for Energy.
The GrazLog project consortium consists of:
- AIT Austrian Institute of Technology GmbH, Vienna
- City of Graz, Department of Urban Planning - Department for EU Programs and International Cooperation
- City of Graz, Department for Transport Planning
- Holding Graz, Citymanagement
- Graz University of Technology - Institute for Technical Logistics
- Prime Mobility & Consulting GmbH, Graz
- Operative operator: FA Klade, St. Stefan
Further information can be found on the project homepage: www.grazlog.at