An innovative Smart City logistics concept for logistics in cities and conurbations: Innovative logistics concepts are needed to continue supplying inner cities in the future – cities, logistics service providers and retailers all agree on this. So far, municipalities and industry have paid little attention to underground transport to supply the city centre. FOUR PARX Holding GmbH, Dreieich, an innovative project developer specialising in commercial and logistics real estate, has commissioned Smart City Loop GmbH to carry out a feasibility study on the underground logistical supply and disposal of the city centre of Hamburg. A warehouse is to be connected to a distributor in the city centre at a distance of approx. five kilometres. From this distributor, the last mile is to be served in an environmentally friendly way by electric vehicles.

Smart City logistics with underground pipes as transport system

The aim is to put the innovative concept of underground pipes as a transport system for pallets for the traffic-stricken inner cities to the acid test for the first time at one location. The aim is to save up to 1,000 truck/van trips per day per tube. Innovative solutions are urgently needed due to the growing problems of conurbations with regard to congestion, noise and exhaust emissions and, above all, the forecast growth rates for inner-city traffic.Francisco J. Bähr, Managing Partner of Four Parx, explains the commitment as follows: “As an innovative developer, we want to make a contribution so that this promising concept of underground connections can be pushed into the next stage and implemented in practice. We have a great interest in finding new solutions. Christian Kühnhold, Managing Director of Smart City Loop, is pleased with the support from Four Parx: “We are convinced that we can realize a project that makes sense in terms of transport, ecology and economy. Tube systems offer many advantages. We are therefore particularly pleased that we have found a committed partner for the feasibility study in Four Parx”.

The study refers to an exemplary connection of a warehouse in Wilhelmsburg to a city or micro hub in Altona. Four Parx has developed a special property for this purpose, the “Four Parx City”, which is geared to the requirements of inner-city logistics and as an exit point for the City Loops. The legal, geological and urban development possibilities are already being examined. To this end, intensive discussions are being held with representatives of the city and the state of Hamburg as well as renowned institutions.

The Fraunhofer IML, Dortmund, will also contribute its expertise in intralogistics, for example in the calculation of throughput and profitability.

The results of the feasibility study are expected in Q3/2019.

About Smart City Loop

Smart City Loop GmbH is a company for the development and implementation of urban transport systems and digital services for the underground urban supply and disposal of goods on the penultimate mile. Managing Director Christian Kühnhold and co-partner Ekart Kuhn are proven specialists in the development and implementation of innovative, economically and ecologically forward-looking logistics concepts.

About Four Parx

FOUR PARX Holding GmbH, based in Dreieich, specialises in the project development of innovative commercial and logistics sites and logistics products. The portfolio ranges from multi-storey, inner-city commercial properties to large logistics parks at strategic motorway locations for logistics and city logistics, commercial and service companies, wholesale and retail, e-commerce and light industrial.

This range covers five standardised concepts called “City”, “Urban”, “Mach2”, “Connect” and “Global” – including multi-storey commercial and logistics properties. FOUR PARX Holding GmbH is a group of four experienced real estate and logistics experts: Project development and logistics expert Francisco J. Bähr, architects Oliver Schmitt and Jochen Gerber, who specialize in commercial and logistics real estate, and real estate manager Marcus Jungheim.

Four Parx can look back on over 25 years of experience in project development. With a team of over 20 employees, Four Parx is currently developing over 1,000,000 sqm of land for commercial and logistics properties in Germany.