Three Days of Innovation, Exchange and the Future of Urban Logistics.
At the beginning of April 2025, all partners of MoLo Hubs gathered for the eighth project meeting – this time in Amsterdam, one of the five pilot areas of MoLo Hubs. For three days, everything revolved around future-proof urban logistics, sustainable mobility concepts, and cross-border collaboration.
The meeting began with an in-depth look at Amsterdam’s strategies for urban logistics policy, followed by intensive group work sessions. The focus was on user behavior, data analysis, and the key objectives of sustainable mobility planning.
The second day kicked off at the modern Amsterdam City Hall, where project partners presented various work packages and presentations from the other pilot areas highlighted just how diverse the approaches are across the pilot locations – ranging from digital infrastructure and sharing concepts to multi-modal logistics hubs.
In the afternoon, the participants were presented with a number of exciting projects that are currently being planned or implemented by the City of Amsterdam, including the Interreg project ShareDiMobiHub, which promotes the development of shared mobility centers. Another highlight was the presentation of the visionary E-lympic Mobility Hub a mobility and energy center near the Olympic Stadium, designed to transform old gas stations into smart hubs and contribute to making the city emission-free.
A brief talk on “Transport over Water” followed – a project aiming to make urban freight transport in Amsterdam more sustainable and efficient by increasing the use of the city’s historic waterways.
A special highlight was the visit to the Park + Switch MoLo Hub pilot site, where lightweight electric vehicles bridge the final leg into the city center emission-free – a true leap forward for urban service logistics.
The City of Amsterdam has set itself the ambitious goal of becoming entirely emission-free by 2030 and is proactively working to reduce logistics traffic by 2025. Amsterdam has therefore now introduced a "zero-emission zone" in the immediate city center as of January 1, 2025, which no longer allows craft businesses to drive into the city center with combustion vehicles.
Source: City of Amsterdam | zero-emission zone since 2025 (red area), Park + Switch Hub (green area)
In February 2025, the first "Park + Switch MoLo Hub" was launched as part of the MoLo Hubs project – marking a significant milestone towards more sustainable and efficient service logistics. This hub offers service providers (such as technicians) a smart solution to reach customers in busy urban areas like the city center faster and more cleanly. Technicians can park their vehicles at the hub and switch to a lightweight electric vehicle for the final stretch of the journey – whether that’s an electric city car, scooter, or cargo bike. This helps reduce congestion, save time, and lower parking costs.
To round off the day, the group visited the Marineterrein site – a former naval base in the heart of Amsterdam that has been transformed into an innovative urban district and vibrant testing ground for future-focused city solutions.
There, the group was introduced to the project Droppie, which combines modern technology with a rewards system to make recycling more appealing. At the heart of the concept is the so-called "Droppee Station" – a smart collection container equipped with sensors, as well as scanning and sorting technology.
This technology enables automatic identification and processing of various types of waste. Users can deposit their waste independently, and the system takes care of recognizing and sorting the materials. The Droppie app shows where specific types of waste can be dropped off. On average, users receive a reward of around 15 cents per kilogram, which is automatically tracked and credited via the app.
On the last day, the agenda featured another round of workshops focused on spatial planning, city design, and operational implementation. And of course, a heartfelt thank-you was not to be missed: with two golden chocolate Easter bunnies, the partners expressed their gratitude to the Amsterdam hosts, Amber van Stijn and Frank Ebbink, for three inspiring days.
Source: LIHH