Last year, nearly 1.5 billion parcels were delivered in France. But this record figure is synonymous with road congestion and pollution. Logistics services and their delivery methods must therefore be reinvented.
The use of autonomous delivery robots, or even drones, to deliver packages, is becoming more and more widespread, especially among certain brands, such as the American Walmart. Inspired by the military world and its equipment transport tools, “mules” – autonomous trailers that follow the delivery man – also appear in urban landscapes.
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In this landscape, the cargo bike remains to this day the vehicle that imposes itself most easily. Indeed, it is aimed both at families who are abandoning their second car, and at professionals in cyclology. In France, 11,000 units were sold in 2020, while our German neighbor reached 100,000. A craze that does not date from yesterday, because scooters circulated in large numbers in the middle of the 20th century.
With the new impetus given to them by electrification today, small businesses are springing up across the country. These are symbolic of a trend common to all of France, the desire to reconnect with calmer cities, as well as a strong need for social ties.
“The objective is to eliminate the small van from the city center. Zero carbon emissions, no noise, it’s super important. People also want to know the delivery person and that we are interested in them. They want to have that human connection.”
Charles-Antoine Lelièvre, founder of Le Lièvre à Vélo, near Lavalat franceinfo
In addition to these social and environmental advantages, the evolution of delivery towards lighter vehicles has great potential for job creation. K-ryole, a young start-up created five years ago, has designed an electrically assisted trailer that can be attached to any bicycle. The company hopes to sell 100,000 vehicles per year by 2027. This concept allows for the versatility of different services.
“For example, at the Belgian Post, of which we are official suppliers, they deliver mail by bicycle. When parcels have to be delivered, they attach a K-ryole to their bicycles which can support up to 250 kilos, without any effort. .”
Nicolas Duvaut, founder of K-ryoleat franceinfo
Alongside these innovations, we are also witnessing the development of shared delivery solutions between colleagues or neighbours. If carpooling is already widespread for the transport of people, there is now co-transportation, a principle of optimizing the space available in the trunks of private cars, or trucks that return empty after a delivery.
With a community of 400,000 members, this is what the Cocolis company offers by means of an announcement system, similar to that of carpooling companies.
And question solidarity, a start-up called CarryMe connects employees of the same company to transport parcels in confidence. This service, which is particularly suitable for companies with establishments outside France, makes it possible to optimize employee travel to bring goods that are sometimes difficult to import, such as medicines, to their colleagues. It also offers a first social hook to those who arrive in a new place.
“The meeting of the traveler with the recipient is a great opportunity to exchange and establish links between different cultures.”
Carole Aflalo, Founder and CEO of CarryMeat franceinfo
These solutions share a common point: by playing on optimization, social links and technical innovation levers, they seek to contribute to the development of a more humane and ecological logistics sector. Moreover, it creates jobs.
In conclusion: It will take treasures of imagination to deliver more than 100 billion parcels in the world, and to make this sector, which is doubling, ecologically and socially responsible.