Off-peak delivery as a cornerstone for sustainable urban logistics: Insights from Germany

""Off-peak delivery"" (OPD) is considered an approach to foster sustainability in urban transport. This article provides an introduction to current OPD research themes and presents both its beneficial and detrimental effects. It eventually focusses on the German research project ""GeNaLog"", which explored the technical feasibility of night delivery (ND), a special case of OPD presenting the project's approach and key results. Regarding ecological and social impacts, GeNaLog confirms the results of various other OPD trials. In contrast to results from Verlinde and Macharis (2016) or Bertazzo et al. (2016), who indicated possible cost reductions through OPD, GeNaLog reported a 4.8% increase in delivery costs. Hence, following Taefi, the article concludes that mere cost reductions are insufficient to promote OPD. Rather, extending the existing legal framework, similar to the Dutch ""PIEK"" certificate, is required to make OPD an option for sustainable urban logistics.