This, in turn, will lead to increased traffic flow, which will impact consumers’ expectations with regard to receiving their deliveries as soon as possible. With the reopening of cities and a gradual “return to normality”, demand for private car travel is expected to rise, as it is considered a safer form of transport ( Anke et al., 2021). The unprecedented increase in ecommerce orders led to a larger number of commercial vehicles circulating in cities, but as a result of the reduced traffic, the number of parcels delivered on each route increased. In the case of Barcelona, this figure is approximately 35% of normal rates ( Baldasano, 2020).Īlthough freight operators were allowed to continue operating during lockdown, they faced a different challenge. Lockdown policies led to an unprecedented decline in urban mobility, affecting all modes of transport ( Hiselius and Arnfalk, 2021), and in many countries traffic has been greatly reduced. Cities and their metropolitan areas have become the epicentre of the pandemic, with 90% of reported cases ( UN–United Nation, 2020).

In urban terms, COVID-19 has also had significant consequences. As a result, ecommerce has undergone strong growth, boosted by competitiveness among retailers seeking to position themselves in this market ( Heuser & Ashraf, 2019). Distribution channels have quickly become digitalised and increased their presence on the Internet with the sudden change in consumption habits, such as online grocery shopping ( Shen et al., 2022).

In economic terms, it has led to a supply shock which, coupled with a demand crisis ( Donnan et al., 2020), may have unpredictable long-term consequences. The COVID-19 health crisis has represented a challenge for the global supply chain of producers and distributors. In addition, the public administrations took advantage of this situation to adapt the urban space and force a transition towards new delivery systems, such as cargo-bikes, to guarantee sustainable last-mile operations in specific zones. Delivery times were consequently reduced, despite an increase in operations due to ecommerce.

The results of our study show that common problems in UFD, such as traffic congestion or problems finding parking in the loading and unloading (L/U) zones, temporarily disappeared during the lockdown phase. To meet the above objectives, semi-structured interviews were conducted with public administrations and private operators, before being transcribed and encoded for later analysis. Lessons learned from this cyclical scenario could be used to define more sustainable public policies regarding UFD in the post-COVID era. In order to have a better understanding of this phenomenon, the aim of this study was to identify the impact of COVID-19 lockdowns on the daily operation of the region’s main logistics agents. With the population remaining at home, ecommerce-driven shipments surged, and total freight traffic increased. While lockdowns imposed to stop the spread of infection reduced urban mobility and had a positive impact on air quality, lowering the emission of polluting particles and greenhouse gases, they had the opposite effect on urban freight distribution (UFD).

The COVID-19 health crisis has had a strong impact on societies around the world, affecting both the health of populations and countries’ economies.

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