The ongoing pandemic has spurred a radical change in the entire supply chain, especially forcing companies to rethink the strategies behind their last-mile deliveries. Companies are searching for ways to provide fast and timely deliveries (faster than ever before) while minimizing the contact between humans, both on the back end in distribution centres as well as between delivery people and consumers. Cities have had to redirect their funding towards health and safety protocols while maintaining their focus on congestion and carbon emissions. As such, consumers have become much more reliant on e-commerce-led, last-mile deliveries.

The development and clinical release of various vaccines was the remarkable success story of 2020. The last-mile distribution of these vaccines to a critical mass of people will be the unparalleled challenge of 2021.

As we begin to see the start of the end of the health crisis, we ask ourselves how persistent urban challenges like air pollution and congestion will be addressed in a post-pandemic world? One lynchpin for overcoming the pandemic is implementing the mass immunization with COVID-19 vaccines.

What are the logistical challenges that need to be addressed vis-à-vis regulations and healthcare providers? What will the “next normal” look like?

The objective of the Future of Last-Mile Ecosystem project, a collaboration between the World Economic Forum and McKinsey & Co, is to provide advanced analytics-based congestion simulation and quantitative modelling to inform last-mile ecosystem players’ strategy discussions. Through a solid database, the project is designed to foster and encourage public-private partnerships that can accelerate the development and implementation of effective interventions that enhance last-mile ecosystem’s sustainability and resiliency.

This report follows an initial publication in 2020, which was launched at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos before the pandemic struck. Since then, the working group of more than 30 leaders and experts in the private and public sectors have continued the discussion in the form of formal meetings, virtual roundtables and informal industry discussions.

Based on the new perspectives gathered, expert interviews and updated data, we adjusted overall baselines for interventions developed in 2020, such as e-commerce volumes and electric vehicle (EV) penetration rates in the automotive market.

Addressing pandemic impact on last-mile delivery,