Urban logistics
Urban logistics: which solutions ?
Replenishing shops, collecting and removing waste, moving families and businesses and delivering parcels to corporate and private customers are only a few reasons why life without the delivery vans and lorries that crisscross city streets would be quite simply unimaginable.
Vehicles carrying goods around cities however, are seen as a problem (they contaminate, they are dangerous, they are noisy, and they clog roads). They are something of a necessary evil: daily life would be less convenient, and cities could practically grind to a standstill without them. Concern has grown over the past few years, which have seen the quality of air and noise levels in cities climb to the top of policymaker agendas – under pressure from the people living there.
Adjusting urban logistics to accommodate tightening constraints is the only option if we want to continue to provide the same services for our customers.
Transporting merchandise in cities and the problems it causes
Merchandise transport accounts for 9 to 15% of vehicle transport. In terms of pollution, it accounts for 30% of the energy balance of urban transport. It generates 5% of the CO₂, 37% of the NOx, 45% of the SO₂ and 65% of the particles.
Road safety is another important issue, and vans and lorries are involved in a considerable number of accidents. A study in Marseilles has shown that accidents in cities are on a downward trend (-25% in 10 years) whereas accidents involving merchandise vehicles are up 25% (50% in the case of lorries).
Merchandise transport lastly causes congestion. In Bordeaux, in France, double-parked delivery vehicles cover 25% of the total available space (and 62% in the heart of the historical part of the city). Illegal parking to deliver goods is significant, and occurs in more than 50% of cases in the heart of cities.
Deliveries in city centres, however, are essential to a city’s life and lifeblood.
Mastering the last mile in city centres: a few experiences from our subsidiaries around Europe
GeoPost Group subsidiaries are involved in efforts to reach customers awaiting deliveries, and their strategies are focusing on solutions that are efficient and effective with a “sustainable” slant.
SEUR in Spain, and Exapaq and Chronopost in France, are especially involved in efforts to tackle that challenge – delivering in city centres while cutting CO₂ emissions – on a daily basis.
The 1st pointer: a few facts and figures about merchandise transport in cities
· Transporting merchandise accounts for 20% of the total kilometres that vehicles travel in cities; people transporting their purchases in vehicles accounts for 50% of that.
· Merchandise transport (incl. purchases) accounts for 50% of the diesel consumed in cities.
· Merchandise transport (incl. purchases) accounts for 35% of the CO₂ released in cities.
· 70% of deliveries take less than 10 minutes.
· It takes 8 small vans to fill 1 lorry.
· There are roughly 4 times more deliveries than collections in city centres.
(Source: Transport Economy Laboratory, National Programme for Merchandise in Cities)
The 2nd pointer: logistic flows in cities
- Trade flow leads to delivery peaks between 10 to 11 am, i.e. when there are most people in cities.
- Collections and deliveries peak from 9 to 11 am and from 3 to 5 pm (the collection runs are in the afternoon).
- Collections and deliveries alone can take up as much as 30% of city-centre road space. Vehicles park in illegal spots for more than 80% of deliveries.
- 60% of deliveries take less than 5 minutes.
- 9% of long delivery stops (>20 minutes) account for 36% of the day’s delivery time.
(Source: Etude Transitec)
The 3rd pointer: booming e-commerce is making the problem worse
This business is entailing soaring deliveries to homes, and a growing number of vans downtown.
- 80% of consumers are in urban areas.
- B-to-C logistics therefore involves handling the cost of the last mile in cities (which is very high) and accommodating the constraints of in-city logistics.