Cykelåkeriet offers carbon free delivery and haulage services by e-cargo bike in the urban Umeå area. We started in the summer of 2016 as a MOVEBYBiKE franchise. In late 2020 we became independent and changed our name to Cykelåkeriet (roughly ”The Bicycle Haulage Company”), with the slogan Hållbara bud och transporter (”Sustainable Delivery and Transport”). New website and social media accounts are in the works.

The transport of goods by cargo bike is a prerequisite for a circular economy, and cycle logistics is a rapidly growing branch in Europe and the rest of the world. The EU project Cycle Logistics 1 (2011-2014) published a Baseline Study which showed that 51% of all private and commercial motorised goods transports could be done by cargo bike.

The Cycle Logistics project used the TEMS database, to which the Swedish municipality of Umeå also supplies data. Based on an urban Umeå population of around 80,000 people in 2017, 51% corresponds to about 28,000 private and commercial goods transport daily, which could be shifted to cargo bike. Often less expensively and faster, always more sustainably than motorised alternatives.

In reality the figure is certainly much higher today, due to a number of factors:

• Umeå’s population is growing steadily.
• E-commerce has exploded since the Baseline Study was published in February 2014.
• The Baseline Study is based on loads of up to 200 kg and max 7 km (p. 11), while modern cargo bikes such as Cykelåkeriets Musketier from Radkutsche can haul as much as 300 kg and cover much longer distances.

To be truly sustainable and circular, modern cities need to become bicycle cities. A prerequisite is a focused investment in cycle logistics.

At present Cykelåkeriet has the only large cargo bike north of Uppsala. The potential – and the challenges – are almost endless.