Logistics and mobility innovators gathered at MOVE 2020 to share and discuss their visions about the future of the industry, from autonomous vehicles to the latest disruptions in city mapping and smart traffic. Our CEO, Sebastian, was invited to present his insight on how Parcelly's services are breaking the status-quo of urban logistics and streamlining the last-mile efficiently and sustainably.
“Variety” is the keyword to best describe MOVE 2020. The event was comprised of diverse round tables and presentations simultaneously taking place on more than 10 stages where industry leaders shared their visions about the future of logistics and mobility. Interactive experiences, engaging panel discussions and inspiring keynote speeches defined the agenda. The conference atmosphere reflected an indisputable enthusiasm for innovative and sustainable urban mobility and last-mile solutions.
The conference was an immersive experience that lasted two days that we fully enjoyed!
The first day included presentations from innovative companies and round tables among thought leaders.
Jaron Borensztajn, Co-Founder of Cargoroo, introduced the main challenges that cities are currently facing: congestion and the lack of alternative vehicles that streamline urban traffic. Subsequently, he highlighted the increasing importance of cargo bikes in Amsterdam. In particular, he showed their versatility in transporting parcels and people. He added that “cargo bikes can replace 51% of all cargo trips by car”. He defined “high-frequency maintenance” and “community engagement” as two of the main success factors for cargo bikes. Rob Fowler, CEO of Volta Trucks, focused his presentations on the need of making urban logistics and parcel delivery sustainable. He listed the four main challenges that the logistics industry is currently facing: harmful emissions, driver shortage, safety and change aversion. He stressed out that “air quality is affecting people’s health and it cannot be ignored anymore” and showed how cities have started to take action. For example, from October 2020 diesel buses, coaches and lorries that do not meet Euro VI standards face fines up to £100 and older models up to £300 when entering central London. Subsequently, Susy Schöneberg, Director of Flexport.org, and Peter Harris, International Sustainability Director of UPS, engaged in an insightful round table on programmes to introduce with the goal of meeting sustainability goals. They both agreed on how companies should start by “managing the physical carbon emissions before offsetting them”. Peter Harris believes that “as an industry, we are not able to offset the carbon emissions in the supply chain” and he adds how “we need to use the right technologies in the right place to start eliminating carbon emissions”. Susy Schöneberg pointed out the omnipresence of sustainability in all the aspects of society and encouraged people to “create a role for themselves in their organisations to promote eco-friendly practices within the organisation”.
Day two centred around an engaging schedule with sessions from Deliveroo, FREE NOW, KPMG and, of course, Parcelly.
Eckart Diepenhorst, CEO of FREE NOW, was the keynote speaker that kickstarted the second day of the conference. He stressed out the role of adapting a company’s strategy to the city they operate in, as no city is the same. He stated that “we must think global, but act hyperlocal” and focus on the people and their wellbeing in urban areas. Eckart highlighted the significant role of sustainability in their operations, but also as a value for other organisations to have in their operations. Sarah Owen-Vandersluis, Head of Public Sector Mobility and Infrastructure Strategy of KPMG, focused her presentation on the role strategic role of collaboration to drive growth. She shared the results of their in-house research and demonstrated how “59% of UK CEOs saw strategic partnerships as their principal growth strategy in 2019”. Charlie Wren, Head of Operations of Deliveroo, brought insights on the carbon emissions in the freight and last-mile delivery. He reported that “road and rail freight accounts for 6% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions, but this could rise to 20% of allowed emissions by 2050”. He further explained that “HGVs and vans are contributing to worsening traffic congestion in busy towns and cities”. He then covered the role of the last-mile of parcel deliveries by stating that “it accounts for around 30% of operators’ costs”. Sebastian’s session focused on “The new realities of retail and the future of sustainable logistics”. He began by describing the ever-changing demands of UK online shoppers, especially in regards to parcel delivery and sustainability. In fact, “48% of consumers are willing to pay a premium for environmentally-friendly delivery options” and that “72% of consumers ranked fast shipping as a top-three factor in an online purchase decision”. These are the main reason that retailers are focusing on “inventory accuracy”, “fulfilment optimisation to reduce failed deliveries”, “the shift of parcel storage capacity to inner-cities areas” and “making big data the way to analyse what you need in what capacity and quantity driven by AI and Blockchain”. By focusing on Hyper-Local Fulfilment, the role of decentralised warehouses has changed as they become “replenishment structures to serve inner-cities hubs with stock subsequently distributed via all sorts of different means of last-mile fulfilment”. The importance for retailers is to find “inner-city structures” which Parcelly provides to achieve cost and time-efficient but most of all sustainable last-mile delivery.
FAVOURITE QUOTES OF THE DAY
Sebastian Steinhauser, CEO and Founder, Parcelly: “As an industry, we have a responsibility when it comes to achieving sustainability on the last-mile, which will also remain one of the major battlegrounds within online retailing”.
Sarah Owen-Vandersluis, Head of Public Sector Mobility and Infrastructure Strategy, KPMG: “Collaboration as the main driver of growth in the coming decade”.
Charlie Wren, Head of Operations, Deliveroo: “The last-mile of a delivery is complex and accounts for around 30% of operators’ costs”.
Kabir Rustogi, Head of Data Science, Delhivery: "More than 600 million orders have been fulfilled in India since 2011"
SUMMARY OF THE DAYS
Move has certainly been an early highlight in 2020. An event that gathered industry and thought leaders not only to showcase their innovations but to discover the evolution that the mobility and the logistics industry is undergoing. Not only start- and scale-ups are today developing sustainable and innovative solutions within the broader mobility sector. Large corporates, from manufacturer to service suppliers are building their own responsible product and service offering. Big data and analytics will continue to drive connected technologies. The expansion and adoption of digitalisation also facilitates the collaboration amongst industry stakeholders, which will further drive the strategic growth of an industry, which attracted over $450bn in M&A and IPO investments in the past 5 years.
A big THANK YOU to MOVE 2020 for hosting a fantastic event! We had a great time networking with senior decision-makers from the industry, commerce and local authorities and enjoyed sharing our thoughts about the vibrant logistics and mobility landscape of the future... #parcellove
