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Jun 28, 2020 at 7:00 AMLogistics Portrait of the Day: Nathalie Cammas
Jun 29, 2020 at 6:55 AMBy 2025, packages in urban areas are to arrive largely CO2-neutral at customers’ locations. This is the goal set by Swiss Post. Even today, it has a respectable fleet of electric vehicles, for example in downtown Zurich.
(Bern/Zurich) While others are still turning over in bed, Muharrem Shabani is already behind the wheel of his Maxus EV 80. “In China, almost every child knows this car brand; in Switzerland, it is still hardly known,” he says. The delivery van is painted yellow because it is part of the Post’s electric fleet. And it is set to become a real armada, making the Post a little greener each year. At 6 a.m., Shabani loads the packages delivered to the City Logistics Hub of the Post in Zurich Enge into the back of his car. He does this in such a way that the packages that need to be delivered at the next stop are always at the front. “Good preparation is half the delivery,” Shabani knows.
Philosophy of the City Logistics Hubs
The concept of the Post’s City Logistics Hubs is not just about electric vehicles. Everything here is designed for efficiency and as few environmental emissions as possible, not just the fine distribution carried out by Muharrem Shabani and other dedicated postal workers. Diesel-powered trucks still deliver packages from the large distribution centers to the regional locations – or, as in Zurich Enge, to the City Logistics Hub. However, these transports are also to be made environmentally friendly in the future. The green strategy of the Post in Zurich also includes its subsidiary notime. The drivers of “notime” deliver customer orders from Oerlikon using cargo bikes and electric vehicles in an environmentally friendly manner. By 2025, the Post aims to deliver everything CO2-neutral in urban areas.
Up to 190 green kilometers are possible
For the Albanian father of a daughter and a son, the green future of the Post is already a reality today. Muharrem Shabani came to Switzerland from Kosovo years ago and is a dedicated postal worker with heart and soul. “I am proud of my work, and since I have been driving electrically, even more so,” he says, pulling the plug of the electric charging cable from the socket in the front of the vehicle. When it needs to be quick, one or two hours are enough for a fast charge. Overnight, the car is plugged in for 14 hours, which is enough for up to 190 driving kilometers.
Fines also apply to electric vehicles
“Now we can go,” says Muharrem Shabani, getting in and stepping on the gas pedal. But there is no diesel engine rumbling; instead, it sounds like a purr that transitions into a hum as Shabani merges into the morning traffic. “It’s not as sluggish today as usual,” and quickly he reaches Zurich’s Bahnhofstrasse. Here, Shabani must finish by 9 a.m. “Otherwise, I would get a fine for blocking the transfer point – and I would have to pay it myself.” But that hardly ever happens to him. Especially because he knows the neighborhood streets and alleys like the back of his hand and quickly delivers everything at a fashion house first today. He will start his second tour of the day at 11 a.m. By then, Shabani will have already delivered dozens of packages reliably and efficiently.
Signs of appreciation
But he is still on his first tour and on the way to a law firm. He delivers something here almost daily. “I have known the two ladies at the reception for a long time. They kept asking me if I wanted a coffee until one day I said yes,” says the 37-year-old. “To continue declining would have been rude.” His face lights up as he takes the elevator back down. He is pleased that his work is appreciated. But he is not only offered coffee – there are also compliments of another kind: “Now and then, people on the street comment on my electric vehicle. Because they notice that I am traveling environmentally friendly, they thank me for it.”
Sustainably successful
Around 3,500 households and 16,600 private customers receive their letters and packages completely CO2-neutral in parts of downtown Zurich. Since the end of 2016, the Post has fully relied on electric mobility for letter delivery throughout Switzerland. All approximately 6,000 two- and three-wheeled e-scooters run exclusively on “naturemade star” certified green electricity from Switzerland. And the packages are also to be delivered electrically in the future. The goal is to improve CO2 efficiency by at least 25 percent by the end of 2020 compared to 2010. The Post will even exceed this goal, having already achieved an improvement of 27.6 percent by the end of 2019.
Photo: © Post Schweiz
