Maritime Infrastructure Engineering and Management
Program, Rutgers University, April 2006
Freight and the City: An Overview of Urban
Freight Distribution and City Logistics
Dr. Jean-Paul Rodrigue
Dept. of Economics & Geography
Hofstra University
Hempstead, NY
http://people.hofstra.edu/faculty/jean-paul_rodrigue/
Urban Freight Transportation: The Realm of the “Last
Mile”
■ Contemporary Urbanization
■ A New Environment for Freight Distribution
■ City Logistics and Urban Freight Distribution
Contradictions between Passengers and Freight
Transport
Urban Transportation
Commuting
Shopping
Recreation
Intensity
Commodity Chains
Trade
Energy & Raw Materials
Waste disposal
Local distribution
Business
Tourism
Migration
Distance
Passengers and Freight Movements by Time of the Day:
Contradictions
14
Freight
Passengers
12
10
%
8
6
4
12AM
11PM
10PM
9PM
8PM
7PM
6PM
5PM
4PM
3PM
2PM
1PM
12PM
11AM
10AM
9AM
8AM
7AM
6AM
5AM
4AM
3AM
2AM
0
1AM
2
Freight and the City
■ For freight, cities have three major dimensions
• Cities are zones of production:
• Industrial location.
• Cities are transport nodes:
• Accumulation of transport terminals.
• Intermediary locations.
• Cities are zones of consumption:
• Problem of urban distribution.
■ Dislocation between those functions
• Notably between production, distribution and consumption.
• Brought by globalization, global production networks and efficient
freight transport systems (increasingly by logistics).
World Cities
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Chicago
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San Francisco
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Los Angeles
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New York
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Moscow
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Hong Kong
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Mexico City
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London
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Paris
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Sao Paulo
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1st tier
2nd tier
3rd tier
Seoul
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Madrid
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Traffic at the 50 Largest Container Ports, 2003
Tacoma
Los Angeles
Hampton Roads
New York/New Jersey
Oakland
Charleston
Long Beach
Jeddah
San Juan
Dubai
Salalah Nhava Sheva
Colombo
Less than 2 million TEU
2 to 4 million TEU
4 to 7 million TEU
7 to 10 million TEU
Melbourne
More than 10 million TEU
Europe
Pacific Asia
Laem Chabang
Hong Kong
Port Kalang
Tanjung Pelepas
Singapore
Rotterdam
Hamburg
Tianjin
Dalian
Quingdao
Felixstowe
Antwerp
LeHavre
Guangzhou
ShenzhenXiamen
Keelung
Kaohsiung
Tanjung Priok
NingboShanghai
Busan
Osaka
Nagoya
Kobe
Tokyo
Genoa
Barcelona
Manila
Tanjung Perak
Valencia
Algeciras
Gioia Tauro
Piraeus
Key Issues in Urban Freight Transportation
Issue
Challenge
Increasing volume of freight moving in urban
areas
Capacity of urban freight transport systems
Changes in the nature of freight distribution
Smaller volumes and time-sensitive freight
Repetitiveness
Many urban activities (retail, groceries and
catering) require daily deliveries
Environmental issues
Growing demand for reverse logistic flows
(waste and recycling)
Emergence of e-commerce
Growth in home deliveries
Congestion
Lower driving speeds and frequent disruptions
(reliability)
Regulation
Emissions, access and zoning
Changes in the Urban Spatial Structure
Multi-Nodal
Nodal
Core activities
Peripheral activities
Central activities
Central area
Major transport axis
Road
Highway
Activity center
I
III
Transit line
II
IV
Possible Urban Movement Patterns
Organized
Primary flow
Secondary flow
Disorganized
Monocentric
Polycentric
Components of the Transportation / Land Use System
• Economic base theory
• Location theory
• Traffic generation and
attraction models
Land Use
• Spatial interaction models
• Distance decay parameters
• Modal split
Spatial Interactions
• Traffic assignment models
• Transport capacity
Transportation Network
Urban Transport: Assets versus Liabilities
■ Assets (Freight Transport)
• Privately owned (profit
motivated).
• Relatively low entry costs (wages
and rates subject to market
forces).
• Value added function (trade
distance for cost).
• Support industrial, manufacturing
and commercial activities.
■ Liabilities (Public Transit)
• Publicly owned (politically
motivated).
• Little or no competition permitted
(wages and fares regulated).
• Social function / “public service”
(provides accessibility and social
equity).
• Limited relationships with
economic activities.
Globalization, Commodification and Urbanization
Factor
Growth (19932002)
Retail goods sales
61.8%
Value of freight shipments
45.3%
■ Longer supply chains
• International division of the
production.
• Fragmentation of production,
distribution and consumption.
■ International trade
• Imbalanced freight flows.
Gross Domestic Product
33.9%
■ Higher levels of consumption
Ton-miles of freight
23.8%
• Growing incomes (challenged)
• Debt and equity extraction.
Tons of freight
18.4%
Population
10.8%
From Push to Pull Logistics
Supplier
Supplier
Supplier
Supplier
Supplier
Supplier
Supplier
Supplier
Supplier
Supplier
Freight flow
Manufacturer
Manufacturer
3PL
Distributor
Distributor
Customer
Push
Returns / Recycling
Pull
Point-of-sale data
Customer
Logistics and E-commerce
Supply chain
Warehousing
E-Retailer
Warehousing
Retailer
Customers
Customers
E-Logistics
Traditional Logistics
Supply chain
City Logistics and Urban Freight Distribution
■ City Logistics
• Relatively new field.
• “The process for totally optimizing the logistics and transport
activities by private companies in urban areas while considering
the traffic environment, the traffic congestion and energy
consumption within the framework of a market economy.”
• Means to achieve freight distribution in urban areas.
• Improve:
• Efficiency of urban freight transportation.
• Reduce traffic congestion.
• Mitigate environmental impacts.
City Logistics
DC
Freight Corridors & Freight Clusters
■ Geographical consequences
• Migrating to more affordable locations
in the periphery.
• Growth in tons-km.
• Competition between passengers
(commuters) and freight traffic.
■ Freight corridors
• Expands the sphere of distribution.
• Providing an axis along which
distribution centers can reliably
service many locations along the
corridor.
■ Emergence of freight clusters
DC
• Functionally unrelated distribution
facilities.
• Often located in small intermediary
locations.
Large-scale Distribution Center
Size
Larger
More throughput and less warehousing.
Facility
One storey
Sorting efficiency.
Separate loading and
unloading bays
Land
Large lot
Parking space for trucks.
Space for expansion.
Accessibility Proximity to highways Constant movements (pick-up and deliveries) in
small batches.
Access to corridors and markets.
Market
Regional / National
Less than 48 hours service window.
IT
Integration
Sort parcels.
Control movements from receiving docks to
shipping docks.
Management systems controlling transactions.
UPS National Freight Distribution Center, Chicago
Cross-Docking Distribution Center
Before Cross-Docking
Distribution Center
Suppliers
Suppliers
LTL
Customers
Receiving
Sorting
After Cross-Docking
Shipping
TL
Cross-Docking
DC
TL
Customers
The “Last Mile” Urban Transport Problem
■ The “last mile” problem
• Common issue in logistics.
• More time-based than cost-based problem.
• Components:
•
•
•
•
Delivery time (e.g. duration, possibility to fix delivery date);
Reliability of delivery (e.g. availability of goods, order handling time);
Flexibility of delivery (e.g. delivery date, delivery address);
Quality of delivery (e.g. accurate delivery, condition of delivered goods).
• Unattended delivery problem:
• Mainly apply to parcel deliveries.
• Contradiction between working schedules and delivery schedules.
• Made worse by the growth of two income families.
Traffic Conditions in Major American Cities, 1982-2003
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
Extreme
Severe
Heavy
Moderate
Uncongested
1982
1990
1997
2003
Boston – Washington Corridor: Volume to Capacity Ratio
Toll Bridges and Roads, New York Metropolitan Area
(1000s of vehicles per day)
§
¨¦
287
V
U
287
9
V
U
23
§
¨¦ §
¨¦
V
U
95
17
§
¨¦ U
V
87
22
V
U
23
95
4
§
¨¦
80
GWB
V
U
17
New Jersey
¤
¤ £
£
V
U
17
§
¨¦
280
§
¨¦
LT
¨¦§ 125
§
¨¦
V
U
95
§
¨¦
§
¨¦ £¤
280
1
¤
¤ £
£
78
1
22
¨¦75
§
¨¦ §
278
95
GTB
495
9
100
HT
478
60
BBT
V
20U
BYB
75
OCB
V
U
35
95
278
87
§
¨¦
100
TBB
695
TNB
110 100
WSB
§
¨¦
§
¨¦
295
25
495
QMT
Queens
V
U
24
§
¨¦
678
V
U
27
27
210
95
V
U
V
U
169
VZB
287
95
80
§
¨¦
§
¨¦
§
¨¦
95
§
¨¦300 §
¨¦
Bronx
§
¨¦
§
¨¦
495
21
§
¨¦
1
46
V
U
§
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V
U
20
CBB
Brooklyn
20
MPB
Average Hourly Traffic on George Washington Bridge,
2002
20,000
18,000
16,000
Eastbound
Westbound
Total
14,000
12,000
10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
12
AM
1A
M
2A
M
3A
M
4A
M
5A
M
6A
M
7A
M
8A
M
9A
M
10
AM
11
AM
12
PM
1P
M
2P
M
3P
M
4P
M
5P
M
6P
M
7P
M
8P
M
9P
M
10
PM
11
PM
0
Truck Freight Corridors
New York
New Jersey
TZB
8.4
23.2
7.8
GWB
7.4
Bronx
5.2
LT
5.7
8.6
TBB
WSB
TNB
LGA
HT
BBT
EWR
6.4
GTB
BYB
QMT
Queens
4.2
1.9
Brooklyn
JFK
VZB
OCB
4.8
1.5
8.4
Major Crossing
2.0 1,000 of Trucks per Day (2000)
About 70 million truck crossings per year
Logistical Strategies to Cope with Urban Congestion
Shipping less
Demand responsive systems. Reduce returns.
Shipping timing
Allow greater shipping time and outside rush
periods.
Efficient packaging
Reduce the shipment size (volume) of the
same load.
Modal shift
Use a mode that is less impacted by
congestion.
Challenges to Urban Freight Distribution
■ Multimodal Integration of Freight Transportation
• Problem of modal dependence (80% trucking).
• Specialization of modes, modal shift and freight diversion.
■ Entropy and Energy
• Maintaining the cohesion and productivity of freight distribution.
• Growing disorder and energy costs.
■ Urban/Suburban Supply Chains
•
•
•
•
Coping with the “last mile”.
Difficulties to maintain just-in-time and timely supply.
High distribution costs.
Adaptation of modes and delivery times.