Circular City Ports - Workbook
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1 <strong>City</strong> Depot Brussels<br />
33<br />
What happens here?<br />
<strong>City</strong>Depot is a Belgian company operating in several<br />
large cities that offers a sustainable solution for the<br />
distribution of goods. As part of the last mile logistics,<br />
it concentrates goods flows at the entrance to<br />
cities and delivers them in an optimized and consolidated<br />
way to the urban center using more suitable<br />
and cleaner vehicles (bicycles, vans...). The<br />
company also proposes to collect, store or assemble<br />
goods in a flexible way before delivering them to<br />
the city. The project aims to close the loop of goods<br />
flows by stimulating the integration of reverse logistics<br />
among Brussels economic actors.<br />
What is the relation with the port?<br />
<strong>City</strong>Depot’s strategic position inside the port and<br />
at the gateway to the city allows them to store the<br />
goods delivered and to operate over large areas.<br />
Proximity to water allows them to operate multimodally<br />
and to deliver some of the goods ending in the<br />
city center by water (unlike in Antwerp, where this<br />
practice is rather established, Brussels is still testing<br />
this possibility with palletized goods other than<br />
construction materials).<br />
What is the relation with the city?<br />
Proximity to the city is crucial for <strong>City</strong>Depot because<br />
the short distances to be covered by freight<br />
transport allow to break-up total volumes into small<br />
deliveries that can be transported by alternative vehicles,<br />
cleaner because electrically propelled.<br />
What are the ambitions?<br />
Reverse logistics uses the available space inside<br />
the delivery truck once goods have been dispatched<br />
and contributes to recovering resources/<br />
waste. The final objective is to be able to gather all<br />
residual flows at the consolidation center in a sufficient<br />
quantity so that they can be valued by local<br />
and social economy actors (such as the project<br />
partners: Les Petits Riens, Oxfam, etc.).<br />
Thus <strong>City</strong>Depot’s objectives are found in value creation,<br />
at the intersection of ecology, social and economic<br />
aspects. The efficient distribution of goods<br />
in cities reduces traffic and related pollution and<br />
increases the safety, quality of life and comfort of<br />
local traders.Who is behind it?As a BPost branch,<br />
this project is supported by the Brussels-Capital<br />
Region as part of the «be circular be.brussels» call<br />
for projects of the Regional Programme in <strong>Circular</strong><br />
Economy (PREC). Indeed, in 2016 <strong>City</strong>Depot received<br />
financial assistance and was also supported<br />
by Impulse.brussels in the search for investors and<br />
in the procedure for introducing the environmental<br />
permit for the construction of its premises.<br />
Sources<br />
www.citydepot.be<br />
www.circulareconomy.brussels/citydepot-connecteur-de-leconomie-circulaire<br />
Timeline<br />
<strong>City</strong>Depot created by<br />
Marc Schepers in Hasselt<br />
and then Brussels<br />
Creation of <strong>City</strong><br />
Logistics in Antwerp<br />
by Bpost<br />
Union of <strong>City</strong>Depot and<br />
<strong>City</strong> Logistics. Creation<br />
of <strong>City</strong>Depot SA<br />
Winner of<br />
the Be <strong>Circular</strong><br />
program<br />
Record of<br />
6,200 drops in a<br />
single day<br />
2011 2014<br />
2015 2016 2018<br />
<strong>City</strong>Depot’s consolidation centre in Brussels.<br />
Use of clean vehicles.