Feasibility Study on Logistics Hub Altona in the City of Hamburg, Germany

As part of 'HUPMOBILE-Holistic Urban and Peri-urban Mobility', the Borough of Altona, representing Hamburg, developed a concept for “last mile” logistics. The term “last mile” refers to distribution within an urban space, especially parcel delivery with cargo bikes. As cities try to shift the massive load of parcel deliveries from motorized transport to more sustainable forms as 'Active Mobility' and 'Fusion Mobility', rethinking logistics in terms of deliveries for B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Customers) within cities is inevitable.

To reduce motorized traffic in the long run, the Borough of Altona want to increase use of cargo bikes in combination with microhubs as a modern form of urban and peri-urban logistics. These microhubs function as pivotal points for parcel delivery by cargo bikes, parcel storage and other services, depending on the depot’s infrastructure, usable by private households and businesses alike. A wide array of different solutions have undergone primary testing nationwide in a number of pilot studies, each with different challenges regarding issues of hub users, creation of infrastructure, cost efficiency and many more.

The feasibility study “Logistics Hub Altona” summarizes the past and present key knowledge on microhub projects in an evaluative manner and uses their collected expertise in combination with the diverse demands of the city of Hamburg to identify locations suited for microhubs in the district of Altona. Potential locations include a shopping centre, the neighborhood “Mitte Altona” and various others. All of them are facing their own unique set of barriers but also opportunities, discussed in detail in the feasibility study. However, those single locations are only the beginning, and a widespread network of microhubs constitutes the long-term goal for the project, making the "last mile" more efficient and ecofriendly.

Text by Heike Bunte, HUPMOBILE Project Manager, City of Hamburg