Amazon launching e-bike 'last mile' logistics hub in Manhattan

Amazon has leased the property at 706 11th Ave. in Manhattan to use as a delivery station. The Potamkin Group, an auto dealer, owns the site.

Amazon's push into using electric cargo bikes for its last-mile deliveries could mark a significant shift for the distribution and logistics industry as companies look to figure out how to sort and deliver packages to customers faster in a city as dense as New York.

Amazon.com Inc. has leased a building on Manhattan's West Side to use as a distribution center.

The e-commerce giant confirmed it has leased the property at 706 11th Ave., a two-story, 66,000-square-foot retail building owned by auto dealer The Potamkin Group. The property, at the corner of West 50th Street, is one block from the West Side Highway.

Amazon will use the site as a delivery station. Those facilities are responsible for the last mile of Amazon's order-fulfillment process. Packages move from fulfillment centers to delivery stations, are sorted, and are then loaded onto vehicles to be delivered to customers.

Deliveries from this space will likely be via e-bike: The online retailer plans to start deliveries in New York City using electric cargo bikes this fall, according to a recent job posting with 706 11th Ave. listed as the location.

Amazon was hiring for contracted delivery associate and bike rider positions to be "part of this exciting new, environmentally friendly approach to delivering packages in New York City," according to the posting.

The new delivery station still appeared to be getting set up as of Thursday. There was some delivery equipment with the Amazon logo, as well as other boxes and signage, visible from the street.

E-bikes have been the unofficial go-to transportation mode for many food delivery workers in the city for several years, even though they were illegal for public use in New York state until last year.

Amazon's push into using electric bikes for its last-mile deliveries could mark a significant shift for the distribution and logistics industry as companies look to figure out how to sort and deliver packages to customers faster in a city as dense as New York.

The e-commerce giant currently has about 200 e-cargo bikes in New York that it uses to make deliveries out of three Whole Foods locations in Manhattan and Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Each bike carries up to 45 packages.

An Amazon spokesperson said the company plans to significantly grow that number of e-bikes in the coming months because of the great response it's received from customers, delivery service partners and the bike riders themselves.

Amazon last year hired two executives in New York focused on e-bike delivery, another sign the company has been looking at expanding its use of the technology, according to CNBC.

The shift to delivering a significant number of packages — rather than items like food and groceries — via electric bikes would be noteworthy, particularly coming from Amazon, which has set the standard for speed and convenience when it comes to online ordering.

New York City in December 2019 began piloting a program to reduce traffic congestion that gave cargo bikes operated by Amazon, UPS and DHL free access to commercial loading spaces. Amazon initially used the program to put 90 bikes on the road to deliver groceries out of Whole Foods, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The efforts to deliver packages as part of that program were at a smaller scale based on number of bikes: DHL started the program with three bikes, which could carry about 350 pounds of packages each, and planned to expand to eight. UPS initially planned to use two bikes, the Journal reported at the time.

Using e-bikes rather than the current standard of delivery trucks would have the benefit of cutting down on traffic congestion on Manhattan's crowded streets, as well as potentially speeding up deliveries.

On a typical day in Manhattan, various delivery trucks can be seen double-parked along residential streets, with workers unloading and sorting dozens of packages for nearby buildings as other traffic veers around them. The workers often then load the packages onto carts to deliver them to the appropriate buildings.

Cutting down on congestion will also help the company — and New York City — address climate change. Amazon is working on creating a delivery fleet that helps the company meet a self-made goal to be net-zero carbon across its operations by 2040, including by inventing new electrification solutions and using alternative delivery methods.

Amazon's latest Manhattan lease may be a sign of more smaller logistics hubs to come. The company plans to open 1,000 such facilities in cities and suburbs across the U.S. to bring products closer to customers and to help fulfill a promise to get more orders to its Prime subscribers on the same day, according to Bloomberg.

The new lease also stands out because of its Manhattan address. All of the new logistics facilities that Amazon has confirmed leases for over the past eight months in New York City have been in the outer boroughs.

The company has announced 15 new logistics facilities in New York City and around the state that have either recently opened or are expected to ramp up in 2021. It's been snatching up space around New York City and across the U.S. over the past year as e-commerce demand has surged amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The building at 706 11th Ave. was previously occupied by an auto dealership selling Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles. The Potamkin name is still faintly visible on the 50th Street side of the property. The property is one of many car dealerships along the corridor — there are at least eight other dealerships within just a few blocks in either direction.

Amazon is opening a beauty salon in London https://t.co/4lg8OSNVyl pic.twitter.com/FG3GxQFvRf

— New York Post (@nypost) April 20, 2021