Farmasol, Zero-Emission Last-Mile Logistics Pilot, Cuenca (SOLUTIONSplus)
Cities Forum designed and helped deliver a zero-emission last-mile logistics pilot for Farmasol EP, the municipal pharmacy company of Cuenca, as part of the eCuenca Electromobility Plan and the EU SOLUTIONSplus project.
Year: 2023 | Client: Farmasol EP / GIZ CIS II — EU SOLUTIONSplus | Country: Ecuador (Cuenca)
Cities Forum designed and helped deliver a zero-emission last-mile logistics pilot for Farmasol EP, the municipal pharmacy company of Cuenca, as part of the eCuenca Electromobility Plan and the EU SOLUTIONSplus project. Urban goods delivery is a fast-growing and often overlooked source of emissions and congestion in historic city centres; the pilot targeted exactly this, decarbonising the movement of pharmaceutical goods in Cuenca's UNESCO-protected core.
Our approach
The assignment set out to design an operating model to shift Farmasol's goods transport, from its distribution centre to pharmacies and end customers, towards a zero-emission fleet. Cities Forum diagnosed Farmasol's existing logistics, from warehousing and inventory to home delivery, analysed three international zero-emission logistics case studies, and proposed a tailored zero-emission delivery model. Delivered as a partnership of the private sector (including Cities Forum), academia (the Universidad del Azuay) and the municipality (Farmasol EP and the mobility directorate) under GIZ's Ciudades Intermedias Sostenibles programme, the pilot was governed through a steering table meeting fortnightly with focal points from the participating municipal companies.
What we delivered
Crucially, the design moved into deployment: the initiative won a SOLUTIONSplus replication call and put two pedal-assisted electric tricycles into service for pharmacy logistics in Cuenca's historic centre from November 2023, with on-site monitoring of the tricycles' operation. Aligned with the KfW-financed low-emission historic-centre project, the pilot demonstrated a real, working alternative to conventional delivery in a sensitive urban environment.
Impact
The Farmasol pilot showed that zero-emission last-mile logistics can work in an Andean historic city, providing Cuenca with a replicable model linking a municipal company, academia and international cooperation. It stands as a tangible, deployed outcome of the eCuenca plan and of Cities Forum's Ecuadorian electromobility work, evidence that the firm's planning translates into vehicles on the street, while honestly reflecting the project's boundaries: a subsequent standalone Farmasol logistics contract was tendered separately and not awarded to Cities Forum.
