On Friday, September 3, 2021, Diane Govaerts, CEO, and Alain Ziegler, President of the Ziegler Group, welcomed Elke Van den Brandt, Minister of the Government of the Brussels Capital Region, responsible for Mobility, Public Works, and Road Safety to the Ziegler Group headquarters in Brussels on the occasion of the official presentation and launch of the Ziegler’s Cargo Bike XXL.
The event brought together some fifty personalities, including representatives of the City of Brussels, customers, and partners within Ziegler’s network who are at the forefront of ecology and sustainable development and who can testify to the Group’s ambitions in the field of renewable energy.
Diane Govaerts, first of all, cited the Group’s initiatives to reduce its ecological footprint thanks to the “Ziegler – Now even Greener” program.
Johan De Brauwer, Country Manager of Ziegler Belgium – Luxembourg, explained that the idea of the Cargo Bike was born in November 2020 during a brainstorming session dedicated to the theme of last-mile delivery and sustainability, the premise being that vehicles intended for urban distribution should become smarter, cleaner, quieter and smaller in order to improve the quality of life of the city, its inhabitants and its businesses.
The Cargo Bike is an already well-known concept and the Group immediately wanted to distinguish itself from other logistics players by offering a Cargo Bike large enough to make many more deliveries in one day than a distribution truck.
Specially designed for Ziegler, the Cargo Bike XXL offers a payload capacity of 500 kg / 4.3 m3 in the form of a 6.5 m tri-bike and trailer.
On January 30, 2021, the project was presented to the Brussels Capital Region and the City of Brussels and received their enthusiastic support.
In June 2021, the first experiments were successfully launched from Ziegler’s Brussels facilities, Vilvoordsesteenweg for distribution in the city center of Brussels.
From the outset, this pilot project aroused the interest of a large audience and generated high levels of engagement and support on social media.
In order to make even more stops and deliveries and to be closer to the city center, a partnership was established with the Interparking group to create the first microhub in the center of Brussels, in the Albertine parking lot near the Sablon. An electric truck shuttle connects the main platform with this microhub. From there, the Ziegler Cargo Bike operators load their trailers for their morning trip. In the afternoon, they return to load their second round.
In this way, the Cargo Bike XXL from Ziegler Group can make up to 50 stops a day, while a conventional distribution truck makes an average of only 25 stops a day.
Several Cargo BikesXXL will gradually be deployed in Brussels and the handling of small parcels will be entrusted to partner Urbike.
The Cargo Bikes XXL will also take the used packaging of the delivered goods which will then be sorted by Ziegler, always in line with Ziegler’s sustainability strategy.
This concept will be replicated in other cities in Belgium, starting in Bruges, Knokke, and followed by Antwerp, Ghent, and Leuven. And then in many different European countries where Ziegler Group is based.
With the Cargo Bike XXL, Ziegler intends to contribute to smart and more sustainable urban logistics The slogan “Ziegler – Now even Greener” has never been more relevant.
