DHL France wins sustainable development award for Paris project
DHL France has gained a sustainable development award for its new city-centre B2B parcel delivery scheme in Paris. Since January, the express operator has been using a network of drop point machines in central Paris to deliver parcels. Business customers can then collect their goods at their convenience.
The Innovation Prize 2006 in the “sustainable development” category, which was awarded at the recent French transport fair SITL in Paris, was shared with the Paris city authority and Consignity, manufacturer of the self-service parcel machines.
DHL linked up with Consignity in January to launch a pilot scheme which is designed to optimize distribution in central Paris and to reduce the environmental impact of city-centre delivery vehicles. Consignity has so far installed 10 parcel machines in city-centre car parks that are permanently open.
Under the system, DHL delivers the parcel into a customer’s numbered box within the machine, scans in the parcel’s barcode and sends an SMS alert with password code that the parcel can be collected. The customer identifies himself to the machine, enters the password code and collects the parcel. The machine is protected with an alarm system.
