Urban Freight: Myths, Good Practices,
Best Practices
Thomas Zunder, NewRail
1
More deliveries, same weight
Deliveries generated per person in 2004 in French cities
= 11.4 (5.7 in 1988)
=> The number of shipments has doubled
Tons generated per person per year in cities = 10 (10.8
in 1988)
The tonnage has remained stable
Source: ECHO surveys, IFSTTAR
Urban distribution centres are growing
Shipments (sent from a city and going through an
urban terminal): from 21% in 1988 to 69% in
2004
Shipments (received in a city after going through
an urban terminal): from 39% in 1988 to 51% in
2004
Note: Normal private operations
Source: ECHO Shippers’ Survey, Dablanc & Routhier (2009)
Urban deliveries are highly efficient
Urban economy today
Shops with less inventory, more
product types and in need of
more frequent deliveries
Service activities, increased
demand for express parcel
deliveries
Development of e-commerce
($200 billion in 2009 in
Europe) and home deliveries
Logistics sprawl
The spatial deconcentration of
logistics facilities in
metropolitan areas overtime
Caused by land cost, large
urban developments, need
for modern facilities and
planning regulation
Generates considerable
additional vehicle-miles and
CO2 emissions in urban
areas
Myths, Good Practices, Best Practices
City logistics = any service
provision contributing to
an optimised
management of the
movement of goods in
cities.
Started 1980s Germany.
Has seen a mixed success.
Myths:
Banning Lorries works.
Put it all on rail or tram.
Night time deliveries are
bad.. or good.. or noisy
Banning Lorries works.. Not..
The most famous truck ban in Europe
is the London Lorry Ban in place
since 1975: trucks over 18 tons
cannot circulate at night and
weekends within a delimited area
BUT Paris has banned trucks (over
29 m2) during day time
Not optimal: promote small capacity
vehicles (vans, light trucks)
increasing total congestion and
diminishing the efficiency of freight
transport. ‘Regulatory patchwork’ in
a metropolitan area made up of
differing regulatory authorities.
Can and does increase vehicle trips!
Put it all on rail or tram. Really?
Cargo-tram in Dresden for
Volkswagen: conveyor belt.
Zurich Cargo Tram: actually waste
collection in lay-bys.
City-Cargo, a major cargo-tram
project in Amsterdam, went
bankrupt in 2009
Rail freight in cities has noise
impacts, is costly and lacks
available track capacity
capacity, sidings and yards
The Monoprix rail experiment in Paris
90 Monoprix supermarkets supplied by rail since 2007
 Trains arrive in a renovated freight terminal close to the centre of Paris
 CNG trucks for the final distribution
 Saving of 410 tons of CO2 annually
 26% increase in transportation costs per pallet
Financially non-viable

Night time deliveries are bad.. or good.. or noisy

Operators would rather deliver when roads are quiet.

But some cities fear noise and disturbance.

Some retailers do not wish to man stores out of hours.
Source: José Holguín-Veras
Good Practices
Discussing with the industry
Providing forums for discussion and negotiation can
ensure that a policy targeted towards freight transport
is successful,
Giving specific labels to virtuous delivery companies,
Signing “Freight Partnerships” or giving labels is well
appreciated but promises must be met,
Tyne and Wear FQP is a fine example of a working
FQP, there are many that are not..
Motomachi Urban Consolidation Centre in
Yokohama, Japan
The UCC processes 85% of flows
delivered to the neighbourhood's
shops
Three CNG trucks make delivery
tours from the UCC, located a few
hundred meters away from the retail
area
Today the scheme provides good
delivery service at low environmental
cost to the community but at a high
cost to the shopkeepers’ association
Building a viable public centre is very
difficult and the majority fail..
VELOCE (Italy)
Vicenza Eco Logistics
Centre
Bristol consolidation centre (UK)
London construction
consolidation centre
ELCIDIS (ELectric CIty DIStribution center, La Rochelle,
France)
More than 150 in
Europe in the
1990s, about 20
today
Success factors for UCCs



Positive:
Negative:
Controlled location (LTZ
Duplicating private
in Italy, Heathrow Airport,
distribution
Building site, close urban
Suppressing brand identity
area (Monaco)
No clear revenue stream
Shipper or receiver
beyond public funds.
willingness to pay, often
for added value activities.
Best Practices: Plan Freight into City
Integrating freight into planning policies (urban and/or
transport planning) and building codes
Common concepts: off-street delivery space provision
New concepts
compulsory storage space in businesses’ premises
multi-story logistic terminals in urban areas
reservation of logistics land use in urban master plans
bid for tenders for using an urban terminal (cheap rent vs
clean deliveries)
Best Practices: Enforcement
Freight needs
enforcement
to flow
Monitoring CCTV
In London and in Italian cities, plate-reading cameras
• Barcelona, Spain and Gothenburg, Sweden, no cameras but trained officers
•
Piek: Assessment of noise levels
• Highest noise causes disturbances (PIEK level)
• Acceptable noise level 60 – 65 dB(A)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hearing level: 0 dB(A)
Silent area in nature: 20 dB(A)
Whispering: 30 dB(A)
Normal conversation: 60 dB(A)
Busy highway at 10 m: 80 dB(A)
Starting airplane at 200 m altitude: 100 dB(A)
Reversing beep at 7,5 m: 110 dB(A
Peak noise without ‘quiet’ development
•Slamming door
•Driving up/away
•Load hatch
•Containers over load floor
•Refrigeration kicking in
•Removing onboard forklift
•Shopping trolleys
Peak level at 7,5 m in dB(A)
: 74
: 67 – 83
: 65 – 92
: 74 – 85
: 70 – 78
: 77 – 82
: 53 – 77
Key development 1: Low noise body
Key development 2
Low noise engine
Key development 3
Low noise cargo handling equipment
Key development 4 Training staff
Noise abatement quiet delivery scheme
Training course drivers
Checklist driver
•Mind the speed
•Mind the RPM level
•Turn off the radio
•Don’t slam the doors
•Don’t drop the cargo storage bar
•Engage roll cage stop whole foot
Albert Heijn in Netherlands
• 4 types of shops
• 1700 shops in total
• Turnover 8 billion
Euros
• 70,000 employees
Logistic impact 1: Less congestion
• Time reduction 1 location
• Average time before : 1.30
• Average time trial : 0.30
Tilburg - Eindhoven distance
Average time
Vehicle
Distance year
Average fuel consumption
Labour cost (23 - 27 euro)
Fuel euro
Cost per year per truck
Before
35 km
After
35 km
1:30
0:30
Volvo FH400 Volvo FH400
210000
210000
43 l
33 l
20700
8100
90300
69300
111000
77400
Tilburg - Eindhoven distance
Average time
Vehicle
Distance year
Fuel consumption
Emission CO2
Emission HC
Emission Nox
Emission PM10
Before
35 km
After
35 km
1:30
Volvo FH400
210000
43 liter
244 ton
4 kg
633
10 kg
0:30
Volvo FH400
210000
33 liter
187 ton
4 kg
486
7 kg
Logistic impact 2:
Larger vehicles in the night
• Big supermarket center of Den Bosch
• Before : 3 rigids 28 roll containers
• After: Trailer 62 roll containers
Number of vehicles
Total distance
Time spend
gazoil
Costs per hour
Totall fixed costs
coût gazoil
TOTAL
Before
3 rigids
225.000 km
2 hour
74.250 liter
After
1 trailer
75.000 km
1,3 hour
24.750 liter
45
49
81000
19110
=3*2*300*45 =1*1,3*300*49
96750
24750
177750
43860
distance totale
Numer of vehicles
Totall distance
Vehicle
Gazoil
Emission CO2
Emission HC
Emission Nox
Emission PM10
Before
300 km,
3 rigids
225.000 km
FM
74.250 liter
201 ton
4 kg
521 kg
8 kg
After
300 km
1 trailer
75.000 km
FH
24.750 liter
67 ton
1 kg
174
3 kg
Thank you




Many initiatives in last 30
years.
Most failed.

Thomas Zunder

+44 1226 379789

Tom.zunder@ncl.ac.uk

PIEK:

Robert Govaers

g_c@telfort.nl
But best and good practice
exist.
Learn and avoid the myths!