Cargo Bike of the Year Award 2021

This year, the international award for commercial cargo bikes and trailers for 2021 docks at the 2nd German National Cycle Logistics Conference in Frankfurt at the end of September. The application list is open, again in three categories: light, heavy and trailer.

The Cargo Bike of the Year Award (CABOTY), which debuted in 2019 at the Internation Cargo Bike Festival (ICBF) in Groningen, will use the stage this year at the 2nd National Cycle Logistics Conference, set for Sept. 28-29 in Frankfurt, Germany. Last year the award had to pause due to corona. The conference is organized by the German Cycle Logistics Association (RLVD), which, under the partnership of the Hessian Ministry of Transport, the City of Frankfurt and the Frankfurt University of Applied Science, is expecting around 250 specialists, logistics experts, transport experts and politicians at the House of Logistics & Mobility (HOLM) site. The opening speech will be given by Hesse’s Minister of Transport, Tarek al-Wazir (Greens). In addition to the wide-ranging conference program with presentations, panel discussions, workshops and practical excursions, the event is also intended to serve as a showcase and exhibition of a currently booming industry and therefore provides a fitting setting for the upstream comparison of the best new products in the segment at the “International Cargobike of the Year” award.

“For us, the conference is the ideal stage this year,” explains award initiator and juror Johannes Reichel, who has been publishing on the subject for many years at HUSS-VERLAG as head of the Test+Technik department at LOGISTRA and deputy editor-in-chief of VISION mobility. In his opinion, the technology has experienced an enormous push in the past two years. In addition, more and more suppliers, who also have their roots in the automotive or motorcycle sector, have entered the market for commercially used cargo bikes. Bicycle components are increasingly being replaced by industrial components – or a separate category is emerging.

“The Cargo Bike of the Year Award is a great addition to the National Cycle Logistics Conference! Competitions are an important tool to create more awareness for the young and dynamic Cargo Bike industry,” commented RLVD board member Arne Behrensen of think-&-do-tank cargobike.jetzt, which organizes the conference. His comrade-in-arms and bike logistics pioneer Martin Seißler added: “Besides, constructive competition invigorates business, which can only be in the spirit of further professionalizing the industry.”

The Cargo Bike of the Year Award will again be presented in three categories: Light, Heavy as well as Trailer and shall thus take into account the different requirement profiles. The list of candidates is now open and interested parties can apply for the award by submitting a factsheet. On site, the jury, which in addition to initiator Johannes Reichel will again consist of practitioners such as RLVD chairman and bicycle logistics expert Thomas Schmitz from Mainz, will examine the candidate bikes in a test procedure and evaluate their practical suitability according to a catalog of criteria. It is planned to award the prize at an evening event on September 28.

Originally, it was planned to award the prize again during the renowned “International Cargo Bike Festival”, which took place in Groningen in 2019 and is regarded in the industry as the Europe-wide “meeting place of the scene”. However, the situation seemed too uncertain for those responsible until autumn under the sign of the pandemic to also risk a cross-border event. Currently, the initiator and organizer of the ICBF, Jos Sluijsmans, is also working on a permanent home for professionally used cargo bikes: With the “Cargo BEIC”, an innovation center for cargo bike companies with an exhibition and test areas is to be created in the dutch city of Arnhem, which is to bundle the forces of the industry.