CLDA Corner
New Company Net Zero Delivers Sustainability
Mark Chiusano began his career in our industry as a messenger for his Dad ’ s company
Avant Business Services in New York while going to college . After graduation he joined the management team of the family business and the rest is history . He is a past President of the CLDA and New York Messenger Association and continues to be a major contributor to those organizations and many others . Mark is now the sole owner of the company after having bought out his brothers over the years .
Mark started up another company in 2014 called
Cornucopia Logistics to service some large retailers in the Tristate area . Mark became interested in how to service his customers in a more sustainable way due to the increasing Global Climate Crisis over the last several years .
Mark has a passion for a greener planet so could he make a difference and continue to grow even though he realized that his company is a major contributor to gas emissions ? How could he do both things successfully ?
The transportation sector contributes 27 % of the worlds carbon emissions and 57 % of that number is through the use of vans . A major component of his fleet .
Seven years ago Cornucopia began to test out new business models in urban areas . We have tested the Mobile Dispatch / walker model where a 26 foot box truck picks up freight from a warehouse and goes to an urban area , meets up with walkers with handcarts and feeds them routes all day . The trucks never move . This model has replaced about 135 vans that would have otherwise been delivering in that urban market everyday spewing gas emissions and creating mass congestion .
Then about four years ago Cornucopia did a pilot with EBikes and trailers in urban areas so that more freight could be delivered by one person faster and go greater distances while still not using vehicles . It was a success ! That model has created explosive growth for the company and we haven ’ t looked back . The company now has 300 E Bikers in New York City and 300 walkers with handcarts every day 7 days a week . The company is also working with the City of New York on the development of a pilot to increase Micro Hubs in urban areas so that all of the freight can come in to specific hubs and be delivered sustainably throughout the city which would decrease the need for any large trucks to stay in the city at all . Just drop and go .
Cornucopia has been so successful with the E Bike program that The City of Boston has asked us to participate in their pilot program for E Bike distribution deliveries in Boston , beginning in 2023 .
But now what about the 300 vans being used in non urban areas ? The company teamed up with some of the largest car manufactures in the world to pilot electric vehicles over the past few years to try to find a way to convert in a cost effective way . The business is moving forward with converting to as many electric vehicles as possible over the next couple of years . In the meantime the company is using other methods to reduce carbon emissions including exploring alternate green fuel products . The company has experienced exponential growth that couldn ’ t have happened without having the perfect team in place .
The company became a member of the
Urban Freight Lab , a think tank of the most prestigious Supply Chain Experts . The UFL is focused on finding solutions to urban goods delivery problems through collaboration between the public and private sectors , in the strategic research areas of the Final 50 Feet , Sustainable Freight , and Curbspace Management , Zero Emissions Freight , and Modeling Freight activity . This has become an amazing collaboration with many pilots on the go .
44 customized logistics & delivery Magazine I winter 2023