Urban Deliveries Case Studies Combined 2025

Implementation To meet these objectives, IKEA intergrates river transport into a sequenced chain of operations, supported by new governance arrangements and close coordination with public and private partners. Operations Operating 360 days a year, the programme runs in three stages: orders prepared at IKEA’s Gennevilliers warehouse, shipped by barge along the Seine and delivered to homes by electric vans:36 Warehouse –Customer orders are processed and packed at the Gennevilliers CDC, located about 15 km north- west of Paris. –Goods are consolidated into 18m³ swap bodies – modular containers designed specifically for IKEA’s logistics network. –Some 30 containers are prepared daily, each capable of holding up to 13 customer orders.1 Water –The loaded containers are transported a short distance by truck from the CDC to Gennevilliers Port. –They are then transferred onto river barges operated by Blue Line Logistics, a maritime freight company. –Barges travel overnight along the Seine to the centrally located Port of Bercy. This scheduling avoids peak road congestion and enables early-morning arrival for final- mile distribution.2 Doorstep –At Bercy, containers are unloaded and transferred to electric vans operated by truck. These vehicles handle the last leg of delivery to households across Paris. –The model allows IKEA to deliver up to 450 orders per day and maintain its 48-hour delivery commitment despite chronic traffic congestion in the metropolitan area.3 Governance and partnerships The logistics chain relies on strong public-private collaboration. Public authorities play a central role in enabling the programme. The Île-de-France region and Voies Navigables de France (VNF) funded early studies and pilots to reduce risk. VNF also provided technical guidance and now manages river traffic and lock usage. HAROPA Port Authority granted land and port access at Gennevilliers and Bercy and is preparing new facilities at Limay-Porcheville. The City of Paris approved permits for quayside operations and adapted planning rules to allow container handling in dense urban areas. Private partners bring in the operational expertise. Box2Home managed multimodal coordination, Blue Line Logistics oversee barge operations and Trusk provide the last mile with a fully electric fleet. FM Picking 3,5T EV or dieselCDCTrusk Boat Last mileLoadingB2H Transportation, handling operationB2H handling operationTrusk Last milesBlueLine Logistics Transportation, handling operation 3,5T EV or diesel 7,5T EVParis Bercy portGENEVILLIERS PORT CUSTOMER PARIS BERCY GENEVILLIERS CDC CDC