To shrink the emissions from delivering packages and groceries in New York City for customers like Amazon Fresh, a company called DutchX uses around 250 electric bikes. But it still uses trucks to get cargo into the city. Now it’s testing an alternative: ferries traveling on the Hudson River.
In a new pilot launching this month, the company will start using a ferry to bring shipments from a New Jersey warehouse across the river to Midtown Manhattan. Boxes will be packed inside mini shipping containers designed to fit behind four-wheeled electric bikes or “eQuads,” made by a company called Fernhay; they look like tiny delivery trucks, but fit inside bike lanes. On the other side of the river, DutchX’s bike couriers will pick up the containers and then make doorstop deliveries.
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