Retail giant unveils new micromobility hub in Belfast's Titanic Quarter as part of £300m effort to electrify UK delivery network
Amazon has committed to delivering thousands of packages a week to customers in Northern Ireland using electric cargo bikes, after opening its latest micromobility hub at its delivery station in Belfast's Titanic Quarter.
The retail giant's first micromobility hub in Northern Ireland sees Belfast join more than 40 cities across Europe that are facilitating electric cargo bike and on-foot deliveries, and marks the latest step in a £300m investment programme to electrify Amazon's UK delivery network.
The delivery stations are designed to fulfil Amazon's "last mile" delivery operations. Packages are shipped to the stations from fulfilment and sortation centres, loaded into delivery vehicles and delivered to customers.
Electric cargo bikes and walkers are now expected to make millions of deliveries to Amazon customers across the UK every year.
"Our new electric cargo bikes are part of Amazon's commitment to reach net zero carbon across our operations by 2040, 10 years ahead of the Paris Agreement," said Jim Press, senior delivery station manager for Amazon in Belfast. "This is a proud moment for our team, and great news for customers across the city who will benefit from zero emissions deliveries to their door."
Amazon is working with local firm Astral Fox to provide delivery services via its new hub and roll out a fleet of electric cargo bikes.
"We think the electric cargo bikes are going to be a big hit with customers, while also supporting Amazon's sustainability commitments," said Nick Turkington, owner of Astral Fox. "The future is here and this is just the beginning."
Amazon and its partners now have more than 1,000 electric delivery vans deployed across the UK and Ireland, in addition to nine fully electric heavy goods vehicles.
The latest update comes just weeks after Amazon revealed more than half its shipments across Europe now come in material-lite, recyclable delivery packages or with no added packaging.
Overall, the company claims to have reduced the average weight of delivery packaging per shipment by 41 per cent over the past five years in Europe, which it estimates has avoided the need for more than two million tonnes of packaging materials.
