EUROPEAN COMMISSION FIFTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Key Action 4: City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage

Transcription

1 EUROPEAN COMMISSION FIFTH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Key Action 4: City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage CITY FREIGHT Inter- and Intra- City Freight Distribution Networks FINAL REPORT Contract No.: EVK4-CT Author: Project co-ordinator: Partners: STRATEC S.A. (BE) STRATEC S.A. (BE) NEWRAIL - (UK) BCI - Buck Consultants International BV (NL) CYBERNETIX (F) EURETITALIA (IT) INECO (E) Report No.: Final Report Date: April 2005 Project homepage:

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3 CONTENT Executive summary Introduction Objectives and structure of the CITY FREIGHT project Methodological Framework Introduction Key concepts Introduction Interrelations Actors Problems Objectives Solutions Benefits / drawbacks Important elements of context and of assessment Introduction Emissions Noise Infrastructure damage Safety Freight distribution related aspects and issues in the case cities Brussels Introduction Basic information on the city Overview of goods transport flows Land use and transport infrastructure Public policies and strategies Urban freight distribution problems Helsinki Basic information on the city Overview of goods transport flows Land use and transport infrastructure Public policies and strategies Urban freight distribution problems 63 III

4 3.3. Tampere Introduction Basic information on the city Overview of goods transport flows Land use and transport infrastructure Public policies and strategies Urban freight distribution problems Vasaa Introduction Overview of goods transport flows Land use and transport infrastructure Public policies and strategies Urban freight distribution problems Strasbourg Introduction Basic information on the city Overviews on goods transport flows Public policies and strategies Urban freight distribution problems La Rochelle Introduction Basic information on the city Overviews on goods transport flows Public policies and strategies Urban freight distribution problems Milan Introduction Basic information on the city Overview of goods transport flows Land use and transport infrastructure Public policies and strategies Urban freight distribution problems Vicenza Introduction Basic information on the city Overview of goods transport flows Land use and transport infrastructure Public policies and strategies Urban freight distribution problems Genoa Introduction Basic information on the city Overview of goods transport flows Land use and transport infrastructure Public policies and strategies Urban freight distribution problems 103 IV

5 3.10. The Hague Introduction Basic information on The Hague Overview of Goods transport flows Land use transport infrastructure Public policies and strategies Urban freight distribution problems Malaga Basic information on the city Transport infrastructure Urban freight distribution problems Valladolid Basic information on the city Transport infrastructure Barnsley Introduction Basic information on the city Overview of goods transport flows Land use and transport infrastructure Public policies and strategies Urban freight distribution problems Preston Introduction Basic information on the city Overview of goods transport flows Tithebarn Regeneration Area Land use and transport infrastructure Public policies and strategies Urban freight distribution problems Types of Urban freight distribution initiatives Introduction Operational initiatives Market initiatives Environmental initiatives Land use and infrastructure initiatives Policy and regulative initiatives Technological initiatives Problems and challenges in implementation of initiatives 150 V

6 5. Presentation of cityfreight scenarios Urban Distribution and Storage Centre with electric vehicles, Brussels Retail delivery stations, Belgium Promoting rail solutions for freight transport to and from Brussels Rail transport to the European Centre for Fruits and Vegetables, Brussels Cargo Tram-Train, Brussels Shopping and e-commerce facilities at commuter rail stations, Brussels and Walloon Region Underground service tunnel, Helsinki Logistics centre between the harbour and the airport, Helsinki Municipal Logistics Centre, Tampere Risö Land Transport Centre, Vasaa Goods delivery in urban centre by using electric vehicles, La Rochelle Chronocity, Strasbourg Urban logistic, Strasbourg Proximity Delivery Areas, Bordeaux Urban road pricing for freight, Milano Urban distribution and sorting waste centre with electric vehicles, Genoa Suburban eco-logistic hub with cooperation agreements between the Municipality and the freight operators, Vicenza Cooperation agreements on distribution and waste collection, The Hague A collective contract for waste collection, The Hague Consolidation from the demand side (cooperation agreements), The Hague Urban Distribution Centre, Malaga 167 VI

7 5.22. Preston, Tithebarn development, construction traffic consolidation centre Zero State Model Do Nothing Model % and 75% UTC Models Analysis, Conclusions and Recommendations Conclusions on initiatives Mapping urban freight distribution initiatives A selection support tool Introduction A typology of CITY FREIGHT scenarios Results-based categorization of CITY FREIGHT initiatives Approaches-based categorisation of CITY FREIGHT initiatives Policies-based categorisation of CITY FREIGHT initiatives Stakeholders-based categorisation of CITY FREIGHT initiatives Best practice selection guidelines Urban freight distribution project planning Introduction Problem diagnosis Problem settings Sources of information and data collection Grid of analysis: preparing the elaboration of scenarios and solutions Building relevant indicators Scenario building What is the current situation and what are the freight-related problems? Geographic scope Who is concerned? Regulatory environment Economic environment Transport infrastructures Traffic situation Definition of objectives Recommendation 1 : Find an optimum for all actors Recommendation 2: Objectives must be clearly stated and quantified Selection of solutions The elusiveness of one-size-fits-all solutions Time scope Expected impacts Estimates of the costs when possible Side effects, accompanying measures 195 VII

8 Criteria for selection Selection-making process Implementation plan Evaluation and monitoring of results Recommendations to local and regional authorities Urban Distribution and Storage Centre with electric vehicles, Brussels Retail delivery stations, Brussels Promoting rail solutions for freight transport to and from Brussels Rail transport to the European Centre for Fruit and Vegetables, Brussels Cargo Tram-Train, Brussels Shopping and e-commerce facilities at commuter rail stations, Brussels and Walloon Region Underground service tunnel and underground distribution, Helsinki Logistics centre between the harbour and the airport, Helsinki Municipal logistics centre, Tampere Risö Land transport centre, Vaasa Goods delivery in urban centre by using electric vehicles, La Rochelle Chronocity, Strasbourg Urban distribution centre, Strasbourg Proximity delivery areas, Bordeaux Milano, Genova and Vicenza Cooperation agreements, The Hague Urban distribution centre, Malaga Data collection initiative, Valladolid Tithebarn development: construction consolidation, Preston Barnsley 221 VIII

9 9. General Conclusions and recommendations The context and constraints surrounding urban freight distribution initiatives Recommendations for the case cities in a nutshell Variations on the UDC theme Looking beyond UDCs Is small more beautiful? New carts on the block Consult, propose, federate Help the consumers help themselves Many avenues to traffic segregation Don t trash the tracks yet Recommendations for scenario design in urban freight distribution A thorough problem analysis and a clear definition of objectives are essential Urban freight distribution initiatives often impact an area which exceeds the city Urban freight transport requires a systemic approach In urban freight transport, a long term perspective is needed The support and participation of all relevant actors is essential The roles of public authorities: support, give a sense of responsibility, arbitrate Existing drawbacks and theoretical benefits are not the only relevant decision criteria There is no one-size-fits-all solution There is a drawback to all solutions Failure and success stories teach important lessons 232 IX

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11 FINAL REPORT cityfreight EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Background and objectives of the project CITY FREIGHT is a research project supported by the European Commission under the Fifth Framework Programme and contributing to the implementation of the Key Action 4 City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage, within the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Programme. The project ran from early 2002 to late The CITY FREIGHT project was carried out by a project consortium consisting of STRATEC S.A. (lead partner, Belgium), LT Consultants (Finland), Cybernetix (France), EURETITALIA (Italy), Buck Consultants International (the Netherlands), INECO (Spain) and Newrail: University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK). The CITY FREIGHT project concentrated on inter- and intra-urban freight distribution, collection and reverse (recycling and returning of broken items) flows in urban areas. It also took into account other logistics functions such as loading, unloading, consolidation, and terminal functions in nodes between long haulage transport and city distribution. The main objective of the project was to carry out a comparative analysis of urban freight effects for different cities and situations in Europe and evaluating their socioeconomic and environmental impacts in an urban context with a common assessment methodology. The project focused on 23 initiatives in 14 cities in the seven countries represented in the project consortium. The derived objectives of the CITY FREIGHT project were: to identify and analyse innovative and promising logistic schemes in seven countries represented, as well as urban policies that could accompany implementation in order to promote sustainable development; to set up a list of criteria and a common assessment method for evaluating those logistic schemes and the related accompanying policies (legal framework, land use planning, road traffic regulation, pricing); to analyse their technical and economic efficiency; to design, one or more implementation scenarios of these schemes and related accompanying policies; to assess and optimise the scenarios according to the criteria of a sustainable development of a city; to present guidelines for implementing integrated strategies that could be recommended as "Best Practices"; to disseminate and exploit the Best Practice Guidelines through collaboration with the local authorities for the design of concrete implementation plans of integrated strategies in each of the case study cities. In the CITY FREIGHT project, special attention has been paid to the land use aspect and its interrelation with urban freight. Also the interdependency of local (urban), regional and national (both interurban) freight transport has been taken into account. 11

12 cityfreight FINAL REPORT The project scenarios implemented in the different countries (WP4) are listed in the following table, next page. These scenarios are presented with details in chapter 3. During the project, an analysis of selected urban freight distribution schemes has been made. Subsequently, evaluations of their impacts were carried out, using a common assessment methodology. As the project has been an ongoing process, during the course of the project, changes have occurred in the scenarios included, due to time consuming decision making, institutional interests etc. Some scenario's have been included only in the initial phase of the project and were in the end not implemented and/ or evaluated. Therefore additional information on initiatives that were included in earlier deliverables is lacking in later deliverables. In some scenario's, new initiatives have been developed in a later stage. In this case, information is lacking in the earlier deliverables whereas in later deliverables information is added. Country CITY FREIGHT partner City Scenario implemented Belgium Stratec S.A. Brussels Urban Distribution and Storage Centre with electric vehicles Brussels Retail Delivery Stations Brussels Rail transport to the European Centre for Fruits and Vegetables Brussels Promoting rail solutions for freight transport to and from Brussels Brussels Cargo Tram-train Brussels Shopping and ecommerce facilities at commuter rail stations Finland WSP-LT Consultants Helsinki Underground service tunnel Helsinki Logistics Centre between the harbour and the airport Tampere Municipal Logistics Centre Vaasa The Risö Land Transport Centre France Cybernetix La Rochelle Goods delivery in urban centre by using electric car Strasbourg Chronocity Strasbourg Urban logistic Bordeaux Proximity delivery areas Italy Euretitalia Milano Urban road pricing for freight Genova Urban distribution and sorting waste centre with electric vehicles Vicenza Suburban eco-logistic hub with cooperation agreements between the Municipality and the freight operators The Netherlands Buck Consultants International The Hague Cooperation agreements on distribution and waste collection (De Schone Stad) The Hague A collective contract for waste collection The Hague Consolidation from the demand side Spain Ineco Malaga Urban Distribution Centre Valladolid Data Collection Initiative UK Newrail: University of Newcastle upon Tyne Preston Tithebarn development: construction consolidation 12

13 FINAL REPORT cityfreight The project deliverables are available on the project website ( The reader should view these deliverables as an annexe of data and results and as an inspiration source for solution-finding. More information on the CITY FREIGHT project can also be obtained from the project coordinator STRATEC S.A. Project structure and scientific outputs In the first year of the project, a city freight overview report was prepared for each country (Belgium, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom) and cities included in the project. Trends influencing city freight distribution were described, at the international, European, national and city level. The project performed an in-depth review of freight related problems encountered in the countries and cities included in the project, as well as of initiatives taken to try and solve these problems. The aim was to find innovative and successful initiatives for sustainable urban freight transport. In WP2, we defined the methodology for the following work packages. A number of indicators have been developed to select the most promising initiatives. Each initiative is also given a set of characteristics, so that the conditions (city size, logistic level, etc.) under which it can be applied successfully can be listed. This defines the structure of an initiative database that was used in WP3 for the initiative selection. WP2 also defined the methodology to be used to construct the scenarios under which those initiatives would be implemented in cities. We proposed a methodology focusing on contacts with local stakeholders. Finally, WP2 also presented a few tools to assess those scenarios and initiatives, as well as a number of common assumptions and parameters to be used in the project. In WP3, the database of initiatives was developed, using the information collected in WP1 and the indicators and criteria proposed in WP2. Selection of the most promising initiatives was performed, in order to provide a tool for the local authorities to chose the initiatives best suited for their situation. In WP4, a number of scenarios have been developed for some CITY FREIGHT cities, while in others, scenarios are still under development. Scenarios have been completed in The Hague, Tampere, Vaasa, Helsinki, Valladolid Malaga,Brussels, Paris, Milan and Preston. The assessment of the impacts of these scenarios has been done in work package five. WP5 consisted in an in-depth assessment of the scenarios that have been developed in the previous work package. It constitutes the core of the study in the sense that it contains a rigorous evaluation of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of all the scenarios analysed in CityFreight. In WP6, the consortium brought together all the experience gained from the initiatives assessed throughout the project to elaborate a Best Practice Guidelines, destined to help decision-makers in the field in the design and implementation of one or another scenario. All scenarios were classified according to a typology defined by the consortium. WP7 used the results obtained and the lessons learnt throughout the project and in particular CityFreight s Best Practice Guidelines, to develop collaborative interactions with the local authorities concerned with the project for the design of fine-tuned 13

14 cityfreight FINAL REPORT recommendations and concrete implementation plans of integrated strategies in each of the case cities. Finally, WP8 dealt with the dissemination of the project s results, with the organization of a final conference in Prague in December 2004, the setting up of a website ( and the publication of several leaflets throughout the course of the project. Focal areas and socioeconomic relevance Road freight transport has increased dramatically in the past decades within cities as well as in between them, and prognoses for the future indicate that this trend has not come to an end. The negative aspects of this growth are most visible in urban areas: congestion to which lorries and small delivery vehicles contribute (and which hinders an efficient delivery of freight), noise emissions, emission of pollutants and accidents are problems that decrease the quality of the urban environment substantially. The problems associated with urban freight transport keep increasing even though more and more cities are imposing access restrictions for freight vehicles in their centres. The CITY FREIGHT project clearly addresses the European common challenge of improving the quality of life in urban communities, in matters such as traffic congestion, air quality, noise, accessibility, mobility, equity in the repartition of benefits of new technologies. City Freight is about inter- and intra-urban freight distribution networks. It aimed at producing an analysis of selected freight transport systems already functioning in Europe and evaluating their socio-economic and environmental impacts in an urban context with a common assessment methodology. City Freight focused on innovative and promising logistic schemes in the seven countries represented in the project consortium. Logistics is defined as the management of material and related information and money flows along a supply chain consisting of several companies (suppliers of raw materials, producers, wholesalers, retailers and logistics service providers) and the final customer, which can be a private person, public authority, company or an other organisation. Logistics consists of different processes and components, which can be for example: strategy processes, demand and supply processes and supply chain processes. Urban logistics concerns logistics processes and operations in urban areas, taking into account the operational, market, infrastructure and regulative characteristics of the urban environment. Urban logistics forms an integral part of interurban and international logistics chains. The main outcome of CityFreight has been to provide guidance for interested stakeholders (government, regional, or local authorities, network operators, shippers and consignees) on the advantages and drawbacks of some recent innovations in the field of inter- and intra-urban freight distribution systems. 14

15 FINAL REPORT cityfreight General approach and policy implications Urban goods distribution is a part of an extremely complex system composed of several actors (logistics services providers, shippers, consignees, authorities, inhabitants), several critical interfaces of the transport chain (cargo handling, contacts with customer, and the last kilometres of the transport chain), numerous limitations (traffic regulations and customer demands), fragmented goods flows which decrease transport efficiency, and the risk of conflicts with other actors (inhabitants and other traffic). The problems encountered in distribution transportation are rather similar in different cities, the biggest cities suffering more from the same problems. Situations are however very different and varied across cities, which makes a quick comparisons difficult and underlines the need of a detailed evaluation to produce recommendations applicable across cities. CITY FREIGHT has taken steps towards assessing with a common methodology a number of initiatives that are implemented in Europe, with the aim of providing local authorities with practical tools to determine which initiatives can meet their specific needs. A database of initiatives have been built, which allows the user to pre-select initiatives which are adapted to their local situation and which have been successful in other places. A common detailed evaluation methodology has been proposed, and scenarios are being prepared on the basis of initiatives selected from the database. From the start of the project, one of the main intentions was to develop a decisionsupport tool to help cities to select the best / most successful initiatives for the problems and challenges they experience. The idea was to help cities to transfer and adapt to their own territory the initiatives most successful in dealing with problems and challenges similar to their own. It slowly became clear, while working on the project, that the best way in which this could be achieved was through the provision of synoptic overview of the range of solutions available to decision-makers and other interested parties coping with urban freight traffic and distribution problems and the construction of a selection support tool for those looking for relevant sources of inspiration in their search for concrete solutions to such problems. The typology of urban freight distribution initiatives developed in CityFreight s Best Practice Guidelines to present the solutions/scenarios studied throughout the course of the project rests on four tables categorising these scenarios according to different criteria: The results achieved by each of the solutions tested/implemented, The approaches followed in each scenario, The kind of policy instrument(s) that were used, And the stakeholders directly or indirectly affected by each scenario. Where appropriate, these classifications were also used to grade on a simple qualitative scale the various scenarios assessed in the framework of CityFreight. Recommendations for the case cities Much of the interest of CityFreight lies, on the one hand, in the scope and diversity of the initiatives analysed throughout the project, and on the other hand, in the nuances displayed in the specific conclusions and recommendations addressed to each of the 15

16 cityfreight FINAL REPORT case cities. These scope, diversity and nuances make it particularly challenging to provide cross-case conclusions to the project. Variations on the UDC theme A number of initiatives involving some kind of urban distribution centre are currently implemented or planned/envisaged: La Rochelle s urban loading/unloading platform started with an experimental phase as early as 1998 and is still run as an experiment today. The extension of the project to a larger area in the city, which had been envisaged in 2001, has been abandoned following the poor response received from the main stakeholders, i.e. from the carriers in particular. More efforts should be devoted to reaching a consensus with all the parties involved on their respective contributions as well as on how to carry the project further. Although Brussels plans for a UDC were evaluated based on the environmentally favourable assumption that large electric vans could be used in conjunction with this facility for last-mile deliveries, they led Stratec to caution the region-city s authorities against setting up a UDC without better harnessing traffic in the concerned area (Brussels s pentagon shaped city centre). Indeed, all other things being equal, replacing delivery lorries with their pay volume equivalent in vans would lead to an increase in the number of freight vehicle-kilometres, which could in turn increase congestion and pollution. Moreover, the possibilities to consolidate the small delivery loads destined to small and medium-size commercial cores should be further evaluated. The City of Strasbourg is currently planning the creation of a multi-modal platform for the distribution of urban freight originating from rail, river and road networks. To guarantee the effectiveness of this multi-modal centre, a survey needs to be carried out in order to identify and characterise any potential problem that could arise according to the market context. The city of Preston is planning to develop a large multi-functional area, with a mix of leisure, shopping and other business activities as well as living space in one complex, the Tithebarn Regeneration Area. In order to try and minimize the amount of freight traffic resulting from this project, the city ought to consider the installation of a transhipment centre just outside of the main centre. The centre could be used, among other purposes, to consolidate loads, to co-ordinate traffic flows into the site, and to reduce the environmental impact of the project. Looking beyond UDCs Is small more beautiful? Alternatives to large and centralised urban distribution centres have also been suggested in a few cities: In Bordeaux, the construction of a new tramway line rendered goods deliveries in some areas of the city centre virtually impossible. This prompted the municipality to entirely rethink the supply and transport chains in this zone and to define a new freight distribution concept, the Proximity Delivery Space. The PDS mainly consists of an open-air platform from which parcels and goods are delivered, using wheeled stands and other such devices, to retailers and other receivers. As it stands now, the main users of this new system are parcel and express delivery companies. Cybernétix recommends using the opportunity that arose from the tram works circumstance to adopt a more comprehensive and far-seeing 16

17 FINAL REPORT cityfreight approach to urban freight distribution issues, to initiate longer-lasting changes in the organisation and use of urban spaces, and to smoothly but more permanently transform the attitudes and habits of the concerned actors in favour of more environmentally sound practices. Malaga s Urban Distribution Centre (CUDE) was designed to serve the shops and businesses located in the very historic heart of the Spanish city, an area currently undergoing a major renewal and pedestrianisation scheme. It is a highly focused operation based on a facility, the CUDE, that s itself located right next to the area it is serving. In Brussels, Stratec proposed as a possible alternative to a remote and centralised UDC, the installation of Retail Delivery Stations on the edges of the most attractive commercial cores. These RDS, that essentially consist of a network of dedicated micro-warehouses with an off-street or an ondedicatedstreet loading/unloading bay, would allow deliveries to take place at any time of the day with no or little impact on the attractiveness of the shopping area served. Moreover, the use of pallet-trucks and wheeled stands instead of small vans for the transport of goods between the RDS and the shops resorting to it averts the increases in delivery traffic typically associated with UDCs. Tampere developed an ad hoc logistics centre destined specifically to consolidate the deliveries made to the different units of the city s municipal services. The initiative improved their logistics efficiency and allowed city employees to spend more time on their primary missions. Based on the very high mark given to this initiative, WSP-LT Consultants recommend exporting it to more cities. New carts on the block scenarios analysed in the framework of CityFreight revolve around the use of somewhat unconventional vehicles: One of the main problems with La Rochelle s urban loading/unloading platform is precisely that it was initially developed as a test case for a new technological solution, i.e. the use of small electric vehicles for city centre deliveries, without due consideration for the actual problems to be tackled and the volumes to be handled. Chronopost International developed for the city of Strasbourg a new delivery concept based on a new type of electric trolley. The new vehicle is especially designed to facilitate last mile deliveries in pedestrian areas and historic centres where access restrictions, bad traffic conditions and/or congested delivery areas, hamper the operations of traditional vehicles. The system will later be exported to other cities (Paris and, for the delivery and collection of packages in the dense urban environments handled by Chronopost International. To reap the full potential of this initiative, a fresh look at the whole urban freight distribution system and a complete reorganisation of the supply chain would have been necessary. More should also have been done to stimulate the participation of all the relevant actors. As clearly indicated in the assessment performed about Brussels s plans for a UDC, the use of electric vehicles offers no guarantee that the environmental balance of a scenario will be positive. It all depends on the resulting number of freight delivery vehicles as well as on the general level of congestion in the concerned area. 17

18 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Malaga s historic centre, with its densely built urban fabric and narrow streets appears to be a good candidate for the substitution of large conventional delivery lorries with light electric vehicles, as is currently being tested in Malaga. It is worth noting, however, that this initiative follows a major drive to pedestrianise much of the city centre and to provide car parks at its main access points. Consult, propose, federate Interesting results have also been obtained in a number of instances by essentially bringing together all the relevant actors and getting them to work on win-win urban distribution improvement projects: In The Hague, the authorities introduced with the help of BCI, a series of cooperation agreements for freight distribution and waste collection. Those agreements involve a variety of actors including outlet owners, local authorities, transporters, and waste collection companies. The concept already seems to have had a positive impact. Some deviations from the agreed rules were observed during the testing period, that are probably mainly due to a lack of familiarity with these new rules. This is why BCI recommends that the communication of the rules should be a continuous process in order to avoid these problems and guarantee the success of the operation. In the various urban freight distribution initiatives they assessed in France, Cybernétix found that these initiatives cannot be adequately designed and implemented without tacking into account all the players directly or indirectly involved. Such an approach is necessary to thoroughly understand the needs and possible objections of key players and is the best to avoid neglecting any significant constraint to a successful project implementation. In Valladolid, Ineco conducted an in-depth data collection initiative and compared the data collected by direct observation on the field with the answers given by drivers and deliverymen to a detailled questionnaire. The contrasted results allowed Ineco to draw interesting conclusions on the level of information of drivers regarding loading/unloading areas and on the suitability of their locations. In Vaasa, where a new Land Transport Centre is being planned in an area close to the airport (Risö), much will depend on the cooperation of the operators. On the one hand, their willingness to relocate will determine how much space becomes available in the city centre for other purposes and to what extent their negative environmental impacts can be reduced. On the other hand, extra benefits are expected when the companies relocated to the Risö land transport centre begin to co-operate in logistics operation and distribution. Help the consumers help themselves Assuming that the way consumer goods are distributed in a city can have ripple effects at the customer end of the supply chain, Stratec analysed the impact that the coupling of shopping centres, convenience stores and pick-up points for e-commerce purchases could have on the propensity of commuters to drive a car or ride the train. Although the relative net impact of such ride-through shopping strategies on the modal split of commuters would be marginal, they seem worth pursuing given the large number of cars and vehiclekilometres concerned. With e-commerce purchases gradually becoming more popular, this kind of development could limit the likely increase in individual home deliveries while at the same time reinforcing the attractiveness of rail transport. 18

19 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Many avenues to traffic segregation Traffic segregation, which consists in separating different types of traffic (shoppers and pedestrians, delivery lorries, through-traffic, etc.), is increasingly popular in tackling the nuisances that lorries generate in city centres. It has also come to take a variety of forms: In the Hague, the authorities imposed stringent time windows for freight delivery in some parts of the city but this resulted in congestion problems at the end of those those-windows and strongly reduced the ability of retailers and distributors to plan the deliveries in the most efficient way. The concept of Retail Delivery Station (RDS) put forward by Stratec in Brussels is based on the assumption that delivery lorries could be channelled to a series of micro-warehouses located on the edge of commercial cores, using a combination of major arteries and dedicated back streets (as one approaches the retail areas). Also, the notion that wheeled stands and pallet-trucks can be used for last-mile deliveries from the RDS depends in part on the concurrent implementation of selective traffic management measures. In Helsinki s city centre, WSP-LT consultants analysed the development of reserved underground delivery tunnels or what could be seen as an example of vertical traffic segregation. The objective here is to divert most motorized vehicles from part of the centre to expand the area where pedestrian streets dominate the urban landscape. One of the positive side-effects of the project is that it will also allow an extension (rather than the usual restrictions) of delivery and waste collection hours. More research and guidelines are needed on the dimensioning and technical specifications for this kind of infrastructure. Don t trash the tracks yet Finally, a series of initiatives relate to the use of rail transport in an urban and interurban context after a consolidation of goods flows from their original destination. In this context, four alternatives have been analysed during the project: The multi-modal freight distribution platform currently being planned in Strasbourg revolves to a large extent around the role that the French railways could play in the project. As it stands now, there is even a tendency to give too much prominence to the SNCF in the preparation phase, leaving by the wayside actors who could usefully contribute to the project. Newrail reports that the Traffic Management Unit of Preston considers the location of the shopping area of the city to be close enough to the rail freight station for some deliveries to be performed directly from the train to city centre shops. In Helsinki, the creation of a new logistics centre between the harbour and the airport will allow a concentration of logistics bases in one area nearby the new port of Vuosaari (operational in 2008). A cargo rail terminal now located in the vicinity of the city centre will also be relocated to Vuosaari so that the complex will provide excellent connections to all transport modes. A considerable share of the produce that Brussels European Centre for Fruits and Vegetables imports every year could be brought to Brussels in refrigerating containers using combined road-rail transport. The use of combined transport for the majority of the loads originating from Spain, France, and Italy would generate important environmental benefits, albeit on the interurban leg of these trips. 19

20 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Recommendation for scenario design in urban freight distribution On top of the city-specific recommendations provided above, there are a number of general recommendations that all the cities interested or involved in the design, implementation or improvement of an urban freight distribution initiative ought to have in mind. The most important ones, according to the research carried out under CityFreight, are the following: A thorough problem analysis and a clear definition of objectives are essential Urban freight distribution includes three main elements: the transport chain, actors and the urban context. It is essential to combine 'who' (actors), with 'what' (the distribution model), 'where' (the urban or interurban context) and 'when' (certain time) in all project steps. A thorough problem diagnosis that includes the interrelations between all the relevant elements (benefits/ drawbacks, actors, urban context (and national context), distribution model/ transport chain, time) is important to define sustainable objectives and solutions. Quantifying drawbacks and benefits per actor category can help in identifying problems and defining objectives and solutions. However, methodologies for quantification are not always available. More attention is needed for accurate and specific freight data collection and methodologies to quantify drawbacks and benefits in urban areas in order to weight the benefits and drawbacks. Moreover, knowledge of interests, concerns and motives of the various actors helps to understand how problems are caused. This understanding is important in defining sustainable and suitable solutions. Urban freight distribution initiatives often impact an area which exceeds the city Urban freight is part of freight transport in general and part of transport chains and logistics which often involve a larger area than only one city. Therefore, it is difficult to design a policy aimed at influencing urban freight distribution without affecting the interurban leg of goods flows. Think global, act local applies here as well. Since the transport chain covers a larger geographical area than a city, one should also consider problems, objectives, solutions, benefits and drawbacks beyond the city s boundaries. Sometimes, this involves hard choices and conflicts of interest. For example, some forms of interurban transport (heavy trucks) have an impact on the urban environment and vice versa. From a global perspective, freight transport and logistics produce far more emissions outside of cities than within cities, but their nuisances (noise, accidents, etc.) tend to be more hardly felt within cities. City authorities may find it in their best interest to ban larger lorries from their territory but unless they are willing to support the development of rail freight terminals and/or transhipment facilities, their regulations can result in undesirable traffic increases on the wider road network. Urban freight transport requires a systemic approach The analysis of urban freight logistics should always be based on a systemic approach: the indispensable diagnosis stage should be approached in a systemic way, that is, by 20

21 FINAL REPORT cityfreight taking into account all the side effects of a problem or option; This is also true when it comes to designing a strategy or implementing a given solution. The need for a systemic approach when designing or implementing a solution to an urban freight distribution problem translates in a need to pay attention to several types of issues: technical or technological, regulatory and fiscal, market-related etc. As urban freight distribution interrelates with a number of other policy fields, these other policies should be tuned and / or integrated in a policy on urban freight distribution: economics, land use planning, transport, infrastructure and environmental issues. For example, coordination between cities and joint efforts in some fields can sometimes be decisive, when it comes to imposing new standards for vehicle types or load units or when defining time windows of neighbouring municipalities, since time windows affect the routing of transport companies. More importantly, urban freight distribution can not be isolated from passenger transport. Congestion for instance is not caused by freight vehicles alone. It is the cumulative result of freight transport and passenger transport in a city. In fact freight transport accounts for only a small fraction of all vehicle movements. Goods flows themselves are responsible for many other trips than those performed by delivery trucks. Consumers can sometimes be forced to travel long distances to collect a few simple goods. In designing urban freight distribution policies, special attention should be devoted to the possible spill-over effects in passenger transport (see below for further comments). In urban freight transport, a long term perspective is needed When dealing with urban freight issues, authorities should keep an eye on the long term and on future challenges. They should avoid letting their most pressing concerns hide the hard realities yet to come. A long term perspective is needed, especially because urban freight distribution involves land use planning and infrastructure planning. The development of commercial (shopping), logistical and residential areas has a substantial impact on future freight and passenger flows. It is tempting to locate shopping centres and malls in the periphery in order to avoid the most congested areas ad possibly save on the trucking time needed to supply city centre shops. However, if one looks at the number of vehicle-km now driven by any mall's individual customers, one realise that periurban shopping centres are far from solving mobility problems. There again, long-term thinking and well thought-out land use planning policies are key success factors. Furthermore, the location of shops can have an influence on the modal split. Out-of-town locations are often accessible to private cars only. By contrast, city centre shops, provided they can be supplied effectively and at a reasonable cost to shippers and transporters, allow city-dwellers to shop using a wider variety of alternative modes of transport. The support and participation of all relevant actors is essential There are many actors involved in urban freight distribution (public, retail outlets/companies, shippers, transport providers, public authorities). The support of all these actors is important to achieve the expected results. The best way to get their support is, on the one hand, to understand and care for their needs and concerns, and on the other hand, to get them involved throughout the whole process (problem analysis, objectives definition, selection of solution, implementation and evaluation). 21

22 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Although this process can be very time-consuming, it is preferred over overcoming resistance after the implementation of the project has started. Communication, cooperation and consensus-building are crucial. Failing to recognise the above imperatives can lead to serious obstacles to the successful implementation of urban freight distribution initiatives as it translates into: limited demand for a solution (due to lack of information on individual and collective drawbacks of present situation); resistance to participate if individual costs / sacrifices increase (due to lack of information on possible individual and collective benefits); resistance to provide information on individual business processes; resistance due to top-down approach, not being involved in or informed on decisions that affect actors; resistance as the collective interests of an actor-group (retail organisation or local authority) versus the individual interests of a representative of this actor group (retail outlet owner, an alderman of the local authority) differ. This may reduce the possibilities for single companies and institutions to change their business models or behaviour. The roles of public authorities: support, give a sense of responsibility, arbitrate With so many actors involved, it is often difficult to tell who is responsible for what part of the problem. Freight transport operates pretty much at a private optimum, that is, it is rather efficient from an internal cost point of view. But it generates a lot of external costs. Attempts to curb the negative impacts of urban freight logistics often result in considerable costs that can take various forms: a loss of logistics efficiency for the transporters, supply constraints for the shippers or the receivers, investment costs in new infrastructures or vehicles, new coordination costs or costs related to new services, etc. Before they decide on how much money to spend on any given initiative, local authorities (and regional and national governmental institutions) ought to take the following role(s) in the process: support the possibilities for a high quality problem analysis by gathering information and data on freight movements and characteristics (urban, regional and national freight databases) and information/ data on benefits and drawbacks. bring together all the actors involved in a network / cooperation-group to exchange information and discuss the most pressing problems, common objectives and possible solutions. define their own (financial) contribution to urban freight distribution solutions in line with their natural role of safeguarding public interests. 22

23 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Existing drawbacks and theoretical benefits are not the only relevant decision criteria The solutions envisaged for urban freight distribution problems are often selected based on criteria that relate to certain benefits and drawbacks, for instance reduction of negative effects (emission, noise), funding of a particular initiative/ result, the availability of a technology/ technique/ solution the positive results of a solution in another city. This is far from sufficient given the number of obstacles that urban freight distribution initiatives can encounter. The selection of a solution from a series of alternative options should ideally also take the following criteria into account: the demand for each solution (rather than the desire to showcase some new technology); the acceptability of each solution; the support of all actors for each solution; the existence of synergies (more likely to lead to win-win situations); the sustainability (adaptability, flexibility to changes in interrelations) of each solution the financial viability of each solution. With respect to the last criterion, decision-makers should beware of solutions that are not in some way self-supporting. Recurrent financial support is not easy to secure for the long term and this can lead to serious and possibly fatal disruptions in a project s implementation plan. There is no one-size-fits-all solution Taylor-made solutions are fundamental. Due to the heterogeneity of cities, cultures and transport organisation structures, solutions that are successful in one city can have no effect or even worsen or create problems in other cities. An urban distribution centre, for example, might seem a useful solution for criss-cross deliveries in an old medieval city of which the centre is not adapted to heavy traffic. But in a lot of other cities, a system of decentralised and easily accessible micro-warehouses might be a better idea. For this reason, case studies provide a useful source of information and inspiration. However, one should not focus too much on benefits and drawbacks of these case studies, since there is no guarantee that the same results can be achieved in another city. Not one city is alike another. On the other hand, coordination between cities and joint efforts in some fields can sometimes also be decisive: when it comes to imposing a new standard for delivery boxes or containers, for example, or in order to consolidate enough orders on a given type of vehicles to make its purchase or its later use more economical. There is a drawback to all solutions There will always be a level of hindrance experienced by actors. The challenge is to define which situation/ level of hindrance is acceptable for all actors and collectively 23

24 cityfreight FINAL REPORT optimal. There are no solutions which have positive consequences for all categories of actors involved. When implementing a certain solution, one should be aware of the various benefits and drawbacks for all actors. For instance, individual cities may have to think twice before banning or penalizing certain types of vehicles out of fear that this might penalize their retailers or their shopping public or even lead to the departure of some of them. UDCs, for example, also need to be assessed looking at the full picture, for they could indeed reduce traffic outside of cities but then they usually come with significant increases in intra-urban traffic. In that respect, it is important to note that replacing some polluting vehicles by cleaner ones is not sufficient; it can even be armful if the clean vehicles in question are more numerous than the vehicles used till then and lead to a perceptible increase in congestion Failure and success stories teach important lessons Instead of trying to copy case studies from elsewhere, decision-makers in the field should focus on the success and failure factors of these case studies to design and fine-tune their own solution. Understanding why a given solution was a success/failure at a certain time, in a certain place is more important than knowing whether or not it was a success/failure? With their catalogue of thoroughly assessed urban freight distribution initiatives, research projects such as CITY FREIGHT and thematic networks of the kind of BESTUFS can play a major role in this respect. To further facilitate the exchange of information and the successful implementation of projects in the field of urban freight distribution, public authorities should: develop a database continuously monitoring the progress made and the results already achieved by the various city freight distribution projects currently underway; support the development of information exchange systems between private (and public) actors; promote the use of co-operation models for private actors establish urban freight distribution-centred co-operation groups with clearly defined tasks (for example, monitoring new developments, upcoming problems, studies needed etc.); define, at the national and regional levels, (and wherever possible) quantified objectives for the development of city logistics as an integral part of national and EU transport policies stimulate research on (for example): the use of electric, hybrid and other so-called green or clean vehicles for urban freight deliveries; the impact that the regulatory constraints imposed on urban freight deliveries have on the effectiveness of distribution logistics, on the availability of certain goods in city centres, and on the modal split among urban shoppers; the development of e-commerce, hands-free shopping and other deferreddelivery services and their consequences on the field of urban logistics. 24

25 FINAL REPORT cityfreight 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Objectives and structure of the CITY FREIGHT project CITY FREIGHT is a research project supported by the European Commission under the Fifth Framework Programme and contributing to the implementation of the Key Action 4 City of Tomorrow and Cultural Heritage, within the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Programme. The project ran from early 2002 to late The CITY FREIGHT project was carried out by a project consortium consisting of STRATEC S.A. (lead partner, Belgium), LT Consultants (Finland), Cybernetix (France), EURETITALIA (Italy), Buck Consultants International (the Netherlands), INECO (Spain) and Newrail: University of Newcastle upon Tyne (UK). The CITY FREIGHT project concentrated on inter- and intra-urban freight distribution, collection and reverse (recycling and returning of broken items) flows in urban areas. It also took into account other logistics functions such as loading, unloading, consolidation, and terminal functions in nodes between long haulage transport and city distribution. The CITY FREIGHT project consisted of 9 Work Packages which are listed below: WP1: WP2: WP3: WP4: WP5: WP6: WP7: WP8: WP9: Comparative survey of urban freight, logistics and land use planning systems in Europe. Set-up of a common evaluation procedure. Selection of the set of innovative systems or methods. Construction of scenarios. Assessment of the scenarios. Best practice guidelines. Practical recommendations for each of the 7 participating cities. Dissemination and implementation. Project management and co-ordination. The main objective of the project was to carry out a comparative analysis of urban freight effects for different cities and situations in Europe and evaluating their socioeconomic and environmental impacts in an urban context with a common assessment methodology. The project focused on 23 initiatives in 14 cities in the seven countries represented in the project consortium. 25

26 cityfreight FINAL REPORT The derived objectives of the CITY FREIGHT project were: to identify and analyse innovative and promising logistic schemes in seven countries represented, as well as urban policies that could accompany implementation in order to promote sustainable development; to set up a list of criteria and a common assessment method for evaluating those logistic schemes and the related accompanying policies (legal framework, land use planning, road traffic regulation, pricing); to analyse their technical and economic efficiency; to design, one or more implementation scenarios of these schemes and related accompanying policies; to assess and optimise the scenarios according to the criteria of a sustainable development of a city; to present guidelines for implementing integrated strategies that could be recommended as "Best Practices"; to disseminate and exploit the Best Practice Guidelines through collaboration with the local authorities for the design of concrete implementation plans of integrated strategies in each of the case study cities. In the CITY FREIGHT project, special attention has been paid to the land use aspect and its interrelation with urban freight. Also the interdependency of local (urban), regional and national (both interurban) freight transport has been taken into account. The project scenarios implemented in the different countries (WP4) are listed in the following table, next page. These scenarios are presented with details in chapter 3. During the project, an analysis of selected urban freight distribution schemes has been made. Subsequently, evaluations of their impacts were carried out, using a common assessment methodology. As the project has been an ongoing process, during the course of the project, changes have occurred in the scenarios included, due to time consuming decision making, institutional interests etc. Some scenario's have been included only in the initial phase of the project and were in the end not implemented and/ or evaluated. Therefore additional information on initiatives that were included in earlier deliverables is lacking in later deliverables. In some scenario's, new initiatives have been developed in a later stage. In this case, information is lacking in the earlier deliverables whereas in later deliverables information is added. 26

27 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Country CITY FREIGHT partner City Scenario implemented Belgium Stratec S.A. Brussels Urban Distribution and Storage Centre with electric vehicles Brussels Retail Delivery Stations Brussels Rail transport to the European Centre for Fruits and Vegetables Brussels Promoting rail solutions for freight transport to and from Brussels Brussels Cargo Tram-train Brussels Shopping and ecommerce facilities at commuter rail stations Finland WSP-LT Consultants Helsinki Underground service tunnel Helsinki Logistics Centre between the harbour and the airport Tampere Municipal Logistics Centre Vaasa The Risö Land Transport Centre France Cybernetix La Rochelle Goods delivery in urban centre by using electric car Strasbourg Chronocity Strasbourg Urban logistic Bordeaux Proximity delivery areas Italy Euretitalia Milano Urban road pricing for freight Genova Urban distribution and sorting waste centre with electric vehicles Vicenza Suburban eco-logistic hub with cooperation agreements between the Municipality and the freight operators The Netherlands Buck Consultants International The Hague Cooperation agreements on distribution and waste collection (De Schone Stad) The Hague A collective contract for waste collection The Hague Consolidation from the demand side Spain Ineco Malaga Urban Distribution Centre Valladolid Data Collection Initiative UK Newrail: University of Newcastle upon Tyne Preston Tithebarn development: construction consolidation The project deliverables are available on the project website ( The reader should view these deliverables as an annexe of data and results and as an inspiration source for solution-finding. More information on the CITY FREIGHT project can also be obtained from the project coordinator STRATEC S.A. 27

28 cityfreight FINAL REPORT 2. METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK 2.1. Introduction The second work package of the project was devoted to the setting up of a common methodology (evaluation procedure) between the partners of the project, which has been used as a basis for the development of the next work packages. The evaluation procedure to be set up includes three steps. The first step was the pre-selection of a list of initiatives from the outputs of WP1. They were consistent with the aims of the City of Tomorrow program and representing the most significant trends and driving forces in the city-logistics system. The pre-selection process is based on the use of indicators. The aim was to prepare a list of initiatives in which consultants and city authorities chose to prepare scenarios. This pre-selection has been performed in work package 3. The second step was devoted to scenario building. Each scenario aimed to improve the present situation, as stated in WP1, in an urban area of one of the seven participating countries, and has been defined by a technological content, one or more distribution models and the description of their practical implementation in one of the cities or in an entire urban region of this country. Scenarios have been built through close cooperation between the consultants and the city authorities. The method for scenario building is synthesized in 1 of this report. Work package 4 has been dedicated to scenario construction. Figure 1: Global view of scenario building 1. Identify problems and objectives 2. Select Initiative 3. Analyse issues, characteristics 4. Define accompanying measures Possible feedbacks Possible feedback 5. Define scenario and variants 6. Evaluation Stakeholders consultation The third step set up an in-depth evaluation method for these scenarios. It looked at three families of criteria: technical feasibility: all technical aspects have been covered, including acceptability, environmental and performance impacts, cost-effectiveness, availability of technologies, safety issues and technical risks, by a technical evaluation matrix. It 28

29 FINAL REPORT cityfreight has been used as well, for filtering out unrealistic proposals and for quantitative indepth assessments. market efficiency was usually assessed by looking on the one hand, at the internal costs of the different scenarios envisaged, and on the other hand, at their acceptability to the concerned economic actors; environmental impacts: assessment of the environmental impacts exploited existing urban transport models of two large European cities and the results of the most recent pollutant emission models. An other facet of the CityFreight methodology is presented in the chapter of this report devoted to urban freight distribution project planning Key concepts Introduction Logistics is defined as the management of material and related information and money flows along a supply chain consisting of several companies (suppliers of raw materials, producers, wholesalers, retailers and logistics service providers) and the final customer, which can be a private person, public authority, company or an other organisation. Logistics consists of different processes and components, which can be for example: strategy processes, demand and supply processes and supply chain processes. Urban logistics concerns logistics processes and operations in urban areas, taking into account the operational, market, infrastructure and regulative characteristics of the urban environment. Urban logistics forms an integral part of interurban and international logistics chains. City freight, city distribution, city logistics, urban goods transport and urban freight distribution are different terms for the same subject. In this report, we will use urban freight distribution Interrelations The overall system consists of various actors (transport providers, transport receivers, authorities, residents, visitors) interacting according to their own interests, influencing and being influenced by the urban environment in which land use, economics, environmental issues, safety issues, infrastructure and transport issues play a role. This highly dynamic, integrated and complex process finally generates flows (goods, waste, return shipments, money, information see Figure 3 ) between different groups of actors, creates general economic efficiency and new land use patterns but also causes conflicts and problems in many European cities. The City Freight project concentrates on inter- and intra-urban freight distribution, collection and reverse (recycling and returning of broken items) flows in urban areas. It also takes into account other logistics functions such as loading, unloading, consolidation, and terminal functions in nodes between long haulage transport and city distribution. 29

30 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Figure 2: Inter- and intra urban freight distribution Actors In urban freight distribution there are a number of actors involved. One way to group them is to look at the actors in the transport chain and the actors in the city. The actors in the city can be divided in public (residents, visitors, tourists, employees), companies (catering industry, retail outlets, service providers, builders) and the authorities (departments: economics, land use, transport, infrastructure, safety and environment etc). The existence of all these actor groups is for an important part depending on the reception of goods. All these actors demand goods and therefore initiate the goods flow into the city. The actors in the transport chain can be referred to as on the one hand consignees (companies, public, construction sites) who demand goods and on the other hand producers/ shippers who supply goods and transport companies/ logistic service providers who deliver goods. The main interests of actors in urban freight distribution are listed below: 30

31 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Table 1: Main interest of actors in urban freight distribution Actor Shipper: Consignee (collector of goods): Transport company: Pubic (resident, visitor, tourist): Local authorities: National authorities: Interest the lowest possible cost while still meeting the needs of their customers; products are delivered at a short lead-time at low transport costs; low cost but a high level of operational transport efficiency, satisfaction of the interest of the shipper and receiver; minimum hindrance caused by goods transport and availability of high variety goods; attractive city for residents and visitors (minimum hindrance), strong economic development for local business and an effective and efficient transport operation; minimum external effects by transport, maximum overall economic situation. Each actor, in its own role, tries to optimise its functioning, according to its own interests, deferring from the interest of its neighbour. This generates a lot of problems and conflicts Problems The CITY FREIGHT partners were asked to describe the major problems and development needs in urban freight distribution both at the national and city level. In most of the cities included in the project, the problems were quite similar and could be characterised as : congestion; lack of adequate (un)loading and parking places for goods vehicles; fragmented goods flows increasing traffic; historical city centres with narrow streets and other obstacles; neglect of freight transport issues in town and traffic planning; environmental impacts on freight transport; lack of awareness and information on urban freight issues. More details on the problems in the cities analysed can be found at (Deliverable 1, Comparative survey on urban freight, logistics and land use planning systems in Europe ). The problems are related to the actors. For example, a transport company entering the city can be confronted with road blockings (due to maintenance activities, terraces, advertising materials or congestion), too narrow streets for their type of vehicle, no parking place at the delivery-location, specific rules and regulation for delivering vehicles (time windows, vehicle restrictions) that might even differ from one city to another and closed shops when arriving to make the delivery. Problems which retail outlet owners face directly, are late, wrong or damaged deliveries, out of stock problems, air pollution and noise pollution from freight vehicles, accessibility problems in trying to reach their own shop and indirectly they are confronted with the problems of the public (potential clients), which experience hindrance from decreased accessibility, physical hindrance of vehicles blocking the roads, air pollution, nuisance. Local authorities are faced with the problems of all the actors in the city as well as external factors such as national government regulation, legislation, policies, EU regulations, directives and the like. One should also view the private transport user issues 31

32 cityfreight FINAL REPORT and non transport issues of the city as significant internal factors which can (and usually do) outweigh freight transport as a priority. All problems relate to damage done to one of the actors or hindrance experienced by one of the actors. Damage can be economical damage ((damage to stock, transport costs, damage to products, damage to material, damage to economic efficiency, damage to customer/ sales levels), physical damage to persons, products, buildings or infrastructure (health, accidents, damage to infrastructure, products, material/ equipment) or psychological damage (burn out). Hindrance can be categorised in physical hindrance (road blockings for example), optical hindrance (a street full of freight vehicles does not provide an attractive picture), noise (unloading vehicles during the night), nuisance (smell of emission gas), psychological hindrance (stress, frustration) Objectives As for the problems, objectives depend on the actors and can be defined. In general, two sets of objectives can be distinguished: private and public objectives. Private objectives are often related to turnover levels: sales levels; customer levels; costs levels; service levels; competition. Public objectives, which are often related to the wellbeing of all actors in a certain geographical area, for instance: quality of life safety (accidents, crime level, atmosphere) environment (noise, emission, nuisance etc.) facilities (recreational facilities: parks, hotel and catering facilities etc.) economic vitality (mix of economic activities that serve the public needs in terms of offering goods and services and employment and income); accessibility (time needed to travel to, within and from the city for different modalities and for both freight and persons) Some examples of public objectives are presented in table 1.2. where, for each category, a few possible solutions are included. 32

33 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Table 2: Examples of public objectives related to urban freight distribution Objective Category Getting under control the freight traffic in the city Smoothing freight traffic Changing freight transport chain and reduction of negative effects Grouping and/ or coordinating freight traffic Reorganise final delivery Improving facilities Improving coordination and/ or communication between actors Solutions from the list of initiatives Non-time related city centre management, Traffic management (vehicle access control, ban on through-traffic) Out-of-hours delivery, Time related city centre management Use of alternative modes, Clean vehicles, Technology, Use of small size vehicles Distribution network organisation, Co-ordination of transport solutions Distribution for last kilometre Land use, Infrastructure, Traffic segregation, Accommodation of delivery zones on protected bus lanes Traffic management, Influence behaviour of good practices Solutions To cope with the problems identified in the previous section private and public actors have developed many initiatives, often separately from each other. Because of the complex interrelations in urban freight distribution, it is however not always effective to implement public and private initiatives without coordinating them. This paragraph uses the division of public and private initiatives. Public authorities have a set of policy themes they use to reach these objectives, namely: land use policy; transport and infrastructure policy; economic policy; environmental and safety policy. Adjacent instruments per policy theme are: framework development; rules and regulations; stimulating policies (subsidizing, granting etc.); reprimanding policies. Private actors (often the transport and automotive industry) have also developed some 'initiatives' to deal with growing problems they experience, and policies, rules and regulations they face in the city. vehicle design (to cope with vehicle restrictions of size and weight); electric vehicles (to save energy consumption); low-noise techniques in engines, tailboards, roll-containers (to be able to deliver at night when maximum noise levels are set by public authorities); cooperation initiatives between competitors to achieve consolidation of goods; home delivery/ collection points; planning technologies. The development of environmentally friendly vehicles is often (financially) stimulated by authorities in order to reduce pollution levels and to safe energy. It results in extra costs for the transport operators who have to adapt their equipment. 33

34 cityfreight FINAL REPORT This is the same for low-noise techniques (engines, roll-containers etc) which are designed to meet the maximum noise-levels that are set by authorities. As with the problems, the solutions vary according to the actor(s) involved and responsibilities. An analysis of possible solutions throughout Europe was made during the CITY FREIGHT project. A number of more or less general solutions could be identified. The following list is not exhaustive but includes the most relevant solutions in urban freight distribution: restrictions in access to cities and parking restrictions; urban distribution centres / zones; environmentally friendly vehicles; out-of-hours delivery; modal shift; increase capacity of roads; expand the number of loading / unloading areas; shift retail outlets to less congested areas Benefits / drawbacks When talking about benefits and drawbacks of urban freight distribution, three main issues are always mentioned : transport efficiency, negative environmental impacts and costs. The benefits and drawbacks differ from one actor to another. Actors involved in urban freight distribution are public authorities, transport users and transport providers. Benefits and drawbacks are never the result of an urban freight distribution initiative alone, but they are influenced by the behaviour of several actors and the urban context (economics, politics, land use, transport, infrastructure). Benefits and drawbacks can be categorised in two main categories, as shown in table 3 : Private (transport and logistical) costs and benefits In the urban freight distribution context, private costs that are most relevant are logistical/ transport costs. These are mainly related to transport efficiency and performance. Transport efficiency depends on several factors among which logistical characteristics (load factor, transhipment points, network configuration, routes per week), shipment characteristics (shipments per vehicle, size of shipment, shipments per client, lead-time, vehicle type division, load unit division) and route characteristics (length, duration, delivery addresses per route in certain area, average stop-time, frequency of visits to certain area, time needed to reach first address). An increase of the transport efficiency leads to logistical benefits (and can be quantified in financial benefits). 34

35 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Table 3: Typology of benefits and drawbacks Logistical cost /benefits Financial costs/ benefits Societal costs / benefits Transport efficiency: Logistical characteristics (load factor, transhipment points, network configuration, routes per week) Shipment characteristics ( shipments per vehicle, size of shipment, shipments per client, lead-time, vehicle type division, load unit division) Route characteristics (Length, duration, delivery addresses per route in certain area, average stop-time, frequency of visits to certain area, time needed to reach first address) Public costs and benefits Purchasing costs Operational costs Personnel costs Investments costs Maintenance costs Transport costs Financial risk Turnover Environmental Issues (emission, noise etc.) Safety Infrastructure Accessibility Economic vitality Public costs and benefits can be related to public issues: environment (noise, emission etc), safety, infrastructure and other public facilities, economics, land use, employment and quality of life. The benefits and drawbacks differ in space, from the city to its hinterland. Among the different initiatives provided in the CITY FREIGHT project, the concept of Urban Distribution Centre (UDC) has been presented several times with different technical solutions. It is an interesting example for the analysis of differential impacts on freight flows and emissions of pollutants and green gases in the city and its hinterland. Without any UDC, the freight flows enter the city through a lot of different routes ending in destinations which are highly dispersed in the urban area. Medium size vehicles are found everywhere in the city. With a UDC, the freight flows entering the city concentrate on only one destination point in the urban area the UDC creating an opportunity to use heavier vehicles upstream of this point and to increase the efficiency of the transport system on the inter-city links. Chances are to see the impacts balances on vehicle*kms per transported ton and on emissions of pollutants and green gases become positive in the hinterland of the city. On the contrary, downstream, the transfer of goods from heavy to light vehicles generates the increase of light vehicles flows because goods must be dispatched from one single point to all the final destinations in the city. The number of vehicle*kms per transported ton will increase, as well as the total amount of emissions of pollutants and green gases. The impacts balances will become surely negative. The use of electric vehicles can make the emissions balance become positive but so far it is still a very costly solution. Nevertheless the increase of congestion and hindrance will stay the same inside the city. 35

36 cityfreight FINAL REPORT The location of the UDC has of course its importance. Because of the fact that most of the jobs and activities are concentrated in the heart of the city (Central Business District, still some industrial areas, ) forming there an employment density peak, it should be better to locate the UDC close to that peak in order to minimise the length of the light vehicles routes. On the opposite, putting the UDC in the suburbs often increases the length of these routes and of course the total amount of emissions. The spatial distribution of activities changing over time, advantages and disadvantages of being in some location will change too. Three conclusions can be drawn from this theoretical example : Some initiatives, taken inside the city, can have their higher positive impacts outside of the city. Therefore it is important to define a territory of analysis which is much larger than the city. The need of measuring the impacts with sophisticated tools becomes obvious : these tools should be capable of simulating in detail routes taken, vehicles*kms driven and emissions generated, in order to correctly calculate the local impacts balances. Such tools have already been used for a long time in the field of persons transportation. Figure 3 : Spatial patterns of freight flows entering a city without or with a Urban Distribution Centre 36

37 FINAL REPORT cityfreight 2.3. Important elements of context and of assessment Introduction The objective of work package 5 was to assess the city-logistics scenarios in technical, economical, social and environmental terms. In work package 2, we have defined the methodology to use in this assessment. A common methodology had to be used to ensure the maximum comparability of scenarios between cities. We have defined here the common tools and techniques to be used, as well as the methods to use those tools. However, there was a lot of variety between European cities and in freight distribution in Valladolid or in Helsinki. Differences in key characteristics such as revenue per capita, value of time, consumer preferences or available infrastructure can cause large differences in scenario results and generate problems in comparability of those results. Initiatives are rarely directly transferable from one city to the other, and must be customized. The goal of this methodology was thus not to ensure that all results could be compared directly from cities to cities, but to ensure that an evaluation made in one city can be adapted and reproduced in another, and that results can be compared, i.e. that differences or similarities can be explained in terms of clear assumptions or local characteristics. While freight is essential to our economy and living standards, the noise, pollution and safety hazards caused by increasing volumes of truck traffic affect our quality of life. Scenarios developed in CITYFREIGHT have been assessed for their acceptability to the market, their cost and their influence on the efficiency of freight distribution. They also have been assessed for their impact on quality of life, environment and safety. In this section, we present some important elements of context that have been considered in the CITYFREIGHT scenario assessment, and provide some information on the tools to be used to evaluate them Emissions Motor vehicles are responsible for emissions of a large number of pollutants of which the greenhouse gases. For diesel vehicles, the main ones are nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and particulate matter (PM). For gasoline engines, the main pollutants are carbon monoxides (CO), volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides. Both vehicle types also emit greenhouse gases (GHG), mainly CO 2, but also nitrous oxide (N 2 0) and methane (CH 4 ). There are a number of other pollutants, such as sulphur dioxide (SO 2 ), benzene (one of the VOC's), polycyclic aromatics hydrocarbons (PAH), lead and other heavy metals, etc. Let us note however that environmental performances of road vehicles have dramatically improved in the last decade, thanks to the enforcement of stricter emission standards for new vehicles. Factors such as the introduction of catalyst exhausts the ban on leaded gasoline the lowering of sulphur content in gasoline and diesel the introduction of European emission standards Euro I (1992) to Euro IV (2005) and Euro V (2008, for trucks only) 37

38 cityfreight FINAL REPORT played an important role in this progress. For most pollutants, emissions per vehicle were ten times lower in 2000 than in 1980 (or emissions have been considerably abated in the recent past). For example, this is the case of lead with the replacement of leaded fuels by unleaded fuels. This is also the case of SO 2. SO 2 emissions are proportional to the sulphur content of the fuels, which has significantly decreased in the nineties and will continue to do so until the Euro IV emission standard come into force in From several hundred ppm (part per million) in the early nineties, maximum sulphur content was reduced in 2000 (Euro III) to 350ppm for diesel and to 150ppm for gasoline. In 2005, the maximum content will be 50 ppm for both fuels. Further progress will thus occur in 2005, with the introduction of Euro IV for cars and trucks, and in 2008 with Euro V for trucks. The fall in unit emissions have been much larger than the regular increase of traffic in the past. As a result, total emissions from road traffic have significantly decreased. This will continue in the future. As the new emission standards only apply to new vehicles, the progressive replacement of old vehicles by new ones will continue to improve the average emission performance of the fleet. The only exception to this trend is CO 2, not a pollutant stricto sensu (it is not toxic) but a greenhouse gas. Because emission of CO 2 are directly proportional to fuel consumption, and fuel consumption only improves slowly, CO 2 emissions have increased steadily, and are at best expected to stabilize in the future, if the voluntary agreements between the EU and with the producers (ACEA, JAMA and KAMA) produce the expected results (an average of 140 grams of CO 2 per kilometre for new cars in 2008, and 120 g/km in 2012). The average life expectancy of cars is now about 13 years and about the same for trucks. Thus in 2020, there will still be a significant proportion of vehicles that do not comply with the Euro IV and Euro V emission standards. We have to take account of this fact in the emission estimations. The 2020 average emission factors of cars and trucks depend on a number of factors, such as: the age structure is a first factor, as old vehicles have higher emissions that more recent ones. the split between diesel and gasoline vehicles, as emissions of these two types of engines are quite different. The share of LPG and alternative fuels vehicles is also relevant. the structure in terms of engine size In the Auto-Oil II program, emission factors for cars and trucks have been built for vehicle fleet in nine European countries, using the COPERT III methodology (developed for the European Environment Agency) and taking account of the detailed fleet composition in each country. We propose to use the values for these countries (France, Germany, Greece, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom). We matched the other countries with one of these nine, using expert judgment to choose the best model (considering climate and GDP per capita for passenger traffic, the share of diesel in car fleet would be an important factor). 38

39 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Table 4: Country correspondence for emission factors estimates Country GDP/cap 1995 ( ) LU Luxembourg DK Denmark CH Switzerland NW Norway DE Germany SE Sweden AT Austria FR France NL Netherlands BE Belgium FI Finland IT Italy IE Ireland UK United-Kingdom ES Spain GR Greece PT Portugal SI Slovenia CZ Czech Republic HU Hungary SK Slovak Republic PL Poland EE Estonia LT Lithuania LV Latvia Source: EXPEDITE, OECD (PPP data) Model country Germany Germany Germany Finland Germany Finland Germany France Netherlands Netherlands Finland Italy Ireland United-Kingdom Spain Greece Spain Greece Greece Greece Greece Greece Greece Greece Greece GDP/cap 2000 ($PPP) The Auto-Oil II program includes all countries covered in CITY FREIGHT, except Belgium. For countries not covered by Auto-Oil II, we suggested to chose among those nine countries the model that would best fit the other country. Because we stay in European countries, where socio-economic are roughly similar and Auto-Oil II has a good coverage in terms of GDP per inhabitants and weather conditions, this should provide a very good approximation. The three criteria to be looked at for assigning the correct model are: GDP/capita: countries with similar GDP per capita will have a priori similar fleets, in particular in terms of engine size and car age. Diesel rate: This is the most important comparison factor for private cars. Diesel and gasoline engines have very different emission characteristics. Diesel emissions are mainly particulates (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NO x ), while gasoline emissions consist of volatile organic compounds (VOC), carbon monoxide (CO), some NO x, and very few PM. Climate: Weather conditions are important, in particular for cold start. Fuel specifications also change in function of the average temperature (between winter and summer for example), which causes differences in emissions. 39

40 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Table 5: Diesel share of private car stock 1999 GDP per capita (EU15=100) Diesel share Belgium % Denmark 120 5% Germany % Greece 68 1% Spain 82 24% France 99 34% Ireland % Italy % Luxembourg % Netherlands % Austria % Portugal 74 10% Finland 101 9% Sweden 101 5% United Kingdom % EU % Source: EU Energy and Transport in Figures, 2002 The only country in CITY FREIGHT not covered by Auto-Oil II is Belgium. In this case, France will be chosen as the model, as it has the highest diesel share (34% of cars in 2000, according to Auto Oil II) of private cars, and is very close in terms of climate and GDP/capita. Other freight transport modes (rail, short sea shipping and waterways) must be taken into account, especially if we want to assess substitutions between these modes. Emission factors are usually given in gram per unit of fuel. This is for example the case at the EEA EMEP/CORINAIR emission inventory guidebook, or in the reports from the European research project MEET (Methodologies for Estimating air pollutant emissions from Transport). EMEP/CORINAIR actually gives current emission factors for barges and diesel trains, as well as emission factors for "future barges". We have used these ones. MEET data have been used for electric trains and short sea shipping (we took the data for a medium speed diesel engine using marine diesel oil, the most usual combination). Using these figures, we estimated emission factors per ton-kilometre for inland waterways, short sea shipping and trains. Results are presented in Table 6. 40

41 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Table 6: Emission factors for non-road modes 1998 (g/1000 tkm) Rail Inland waterways Short sea shipping 2020 (g/1000 tkm) Rail Inland waterways Short sea shipping Changes Rail Inland waterways Short sea shipping CO2 VOC CO Nox % -50.0% -84.8% -70.8% -7.4% -99.4% -95.4% -98.0% -9.1% -9.1% -9.1% -81.8% Source: STRATEC, based on European Commission (for CO 2 ), EEA and MEET data PM % -7.4% -9.1% SOx % -63.0% -81.8% To evaluate the cost to society of these emissions, we use the values proposed by the ExternE for transport project. ExternE is a research program from the JOULE III program of the European Commission. It estimated cost of externalities for energy. For the transport sector, ExternE gives external values per pollutant emitted by road transport (Bickel et al. (1997)). ExternE proposes a value for urban areas, where pollutants have a higher impact because they affect more people, more building, causing more damages, and a value for rural areas. For road modes, we have used an average between the urban and non-urban values. For non-road modes, as most emissions occur in non-urban areas, we propose to use the ExternE valuation for rural areas.. Table 7: External costs of pollutants (in 1995 ECU/kg) 1995 PM NOx SO2 CO VOC CO2 Urban Interregional PM NOx SO2 CO VOC CO2 Urban Interregional Source: 1995: ExternE for Transport; 2020: STRATEC estimates Overall, road traffic is responsible for about 41% of CO emission, 47% of NO x emissions and 32% of CO 2 emissions (figures for France, from Sauvant, 2001). In an urban region such as Brussels, figures are even higher, with transport responsible for 88% of CO emissions, or 57% of NO x emissions. For particulate matters (PM), such estimates are more difficult to establish, but transport, and in particular diesel vehicles, are an important source. 41

42 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Table 8: Share of transport in emissions Overall (France 1999) Urban environment (Brussels 1999) CO 41% 88% NO x 47% 57% Non methane VOC's 21% 46% CO 2 32% 18% Source: Sauvant (2001), IBGE (2000) In the context of City Freight, we should look at emissions of PM and NO x, the main pollutants emitted by diesel engines. For PM, there is the issue of which particle size we must look at. There are good estimates for emission factors of PM 10 (10 µm of diameter), but smaller particles (2.5 µm) might be more harmful, though more difficult to measure. Carbon monoxide is an important pollutant in the urban environment and should thus also be considered. VOC emissions of diesel vehicles are usually negligible. However, some scenarios might imply a significant shift from large vehicles to smaller ones, of which a significant proportion might be using gasoline. We should thus also look at VOC emissions. It is also useful to have detailed information on VOC's and NO x, as they are both precursors of ozone. It is less important to look at other pollutants, either because their emissions are already very low or rapidly decreasing (such as SO 2 or lead) or because not enough data are available on the emissions (such as PAH). In terms of greenhouse gases, CO 2 is the dominant component, and we will only look at that GHG. We should look at life cycle emissions as far as possible. In the case of electric vehicles, for example, we should take account of CO 2 emissions from the electricity generation sector. Beyond emissions, exposure of populations to pollutants is also important to estimate (not for CO 2, though). A change in freight traffic routes from densely populated to less crowded areas could have little effect on emissions but the exposure of populations could be significantly decreased. However, impact on exposure levels is difficult to estimate in such project, which looks only at one source of emissions (freight), while numerous other sources contribute to emissions. Impact on exposure also requires the use of complex models, and this is beyond the scope of this project Noise Noise is one of the major problems in modern cities. In many citizen surveys, it is quoted as the most important nuisance. Road traffic (including trucks) is one of the major sources of noise. Other freight transport modes can also generate noise, especially rail and air freight. A number of studies have estimated the external cost of noise nuisance. 42

43 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Table 9 gives the value extracted from a European study, on an aggregated level, per ton kilometer. Table 9: Average external noise costs by country in 1995 Noise: Average Cost Freight Average Road Rail Aviation Water- Cost Freight borne LDV HDV 1995 total Euro / 1000 tkm Belgium 35,7 5,8 6,9 3,0 13,0 / Finland 18,9 2,4 3,1 1,9 13,3 / France 49,8 8,7 13,2 0,9 11,9 / Italy 33,9 5,0 6,1 9,4 24,7 / Netherlands 25,7 2,8 2,8 2,9 73,6 / Spain 25,8 3,7 6,2 6,0 6,5 / UK 35,8 4,2 5,6 1,3 9,4 / EUR17 35,7 5,1 6,7 3,5 19,3 / Source: Maibach, INFRAS (2000) These are average values. They do not allow analysing many urban freight situations, such as the shift from day to night deliveries. Indeed, if we consider a measure that replaces peak traffic by the same amount of traffic but in an off-peak period, for example, although noise emission will be the same, the fact that the background level is lower offpeak make the noise of a truck more perceptible. Noise damage of the same truck will thus be higher off-peak than in peak time, and even higher at night. Scenarios developed in an urban environment might need to have more specific and accurate evaluation of noise impacts than what is allowed by such aggregate values. To assess initiatives of a very local nature, one must take account of the level of noise generated and the number of inhabitants exposed to the various levels of noise. Often, insufficient data on population density and exposure levels will make this method intractable. In these cases, qualitative methods will have to be applied Infrastructure damage Traffic damages roads, and the damage is proportional to the weight per axle at the power four. Heavy trucks, with a weight per axle of up to 5 tonnes, do much more damage than light trucks, with a weight per axle of about 1 tonne (a factor 625) or than cars, with a weight per axle of about 0.5 tonne (a factor 10,000). In practice, cars and light trucks do not cause any damage to road surface. Only trucks above 3.5 tonnes have to be taken into account. De Borger & Proost (2001) suggest a value of mecu (in 1995) per vehicle-kilometre. We can thus assume that road damage is only caused by heavy freight transport (assuming that bus can be neglected, which seems to be the case: in the Brussels region, they account for about 10% of heavy vehicle traffic). The question of allocating the impact to passenger and freight traffic is thus not relevant if we only look at maintenance costs. When looking at external costs of transport in terms of infrastructure, there is often the issue of what cost should be taken into account: the cost of building or extending the infrastructure, and/or the cost of maintaining it. In addition, there is also the question of allocating that cost between passenger and freight traffic. In an urban environment, there is a lot maintenance work in the road network, and it is difficult to extract from total costs what would be due to heavy vehicle traffic. In addition, according to the figures in De Borger & Proost (2001), at about 0,001 per vehicle-kilometre, it represents a small 43

44 cityfreight FINAL REPORT quantity when compared to other external costs. We thus suggest not taking these costs into account in assessing the impact of CITYFREIGHT scenarios Safety Several sources give statistics on accident per country. IRTAD (for International Road Traffic and Accident Data), an OECD database, provides accident rates and number of fatalities per country, for reported accidents with injuries. Accident data suffer from several limitations. The biggest limitation is that they only cover accidents reported to the police, and with injuries. Data on accidents with material damage only are very difficult to find. In many countries, they just do not exist. In addition, it is difficult to assess how accident and fatality rates will evolve in the future. Although it is likely that accident rates will decrease in the future as they did in the past, we cannot forecast this decline in any meaningful way. We must take account of the difference of accident rate across countries. This is important, as it varies from 0.14 accidents per million vehicle-kilometre in Finland to 0.65 in the Czech republic or 0.61 in Germany. Fatality rates also vary widely across countries. These rates are given on Table 10. Accidents rate should be differentiated per vehicle type, or at least between passenger and freight traffic. The available international statistics does not, however, provide this level of detail. As a significant share of accidents involve vehicles of both categories, it might in anyway be difficult to establish. We will assume that there are no accidents for non-road modes. Although this is not totally correct, the number of accidents for rail, water and sea transport is several orders of magnitude lower than for roads. This assumption is thus entirely justified. Accidents have a cost to society (health costs, lost production, risk). Estimates of the cost per accidents vary with the methodology used to estimate them. In a study made by RAND Europe, the cost of a road fatality is estimated at 1 million and of a casualty at 35,000. In UNITE (2001), the cost (European average) per fatality is at 1.5 million. UNITE was a leading project in building comparable cost estimates for transport in Europe, using a single methodology in all countries. We will use the values proposed by UNITE in CITY FREIGHT. Table 10: Accident (with casualties) and fatality rates Country Accident rate (accidents / mollion Mvkm) Fatality rate (Killed billion vkm) Belgium 0,54 16,3 Finland 0,23 15,1 France 0,14 8,5 Italy 0,23 15,1 Netherlands 0,23 15,1 Spain 0,34 8,9 United-Kingdom 0,52 7,5 Source: STRATEC based on IRTAD accident data (2000) 44

45 FINAL REPORT cityfreight We can so assume, in a first approximation, that the number of accidents will be proportional to the volume of traffic. When simulations will be run for specific scenarios, changes in total traffic will be measured, and changes in the number of accidents could then be estimated. But the rate of accidents, i.e. the number of accidents by kilometre driven, as well as their severity, are influenced by a number of factors, such as speed, density of traffic, quality of the infrastructure, etc. The scenarios and policy measures considered in city freight might thus have an impact on the frequency and severity of accidents. We expect that these effects will be difficult to quantify, and might have to rely on qualitative estimates. What will, for example, be the impact of replacing heavy trucks by smaller vehicles? Though we might expect an increase in accident because of an increase in traffic, it might be possible that the severity of these accidents will be lower, or that the rate of accidents will slightly decrease because smaller vehicles are less obtrusive. These effects will be difficult to estimate quantitatively. As the accidents rate is specific to each region and varies according to the type of roads and vehicles, specific information will be needed for each scenario. When safety issues had to be evaluated, information on the rates of accidents had thus to be collected. 45

46 cityfreight FINAL REPORT 3. FREIGHT DISTRIBUTION RELATED ASPECTS AND ISSUES IN THE CASE CITIES 3.1. Brussels Introduction Brussels is the capital of Belgium. It is a large service and administrative centre, with only 8% of employment left in manufacturing industries. Brussels is a major communication link: it is the centre of the highway and railway network of Belgium. It is also connected with Antwerp, one of the largest European ports, with a high capacity canal (9,000 tonnes), and is actually a maritime port. Brussels was chosen for CITY FREIGHT because of the many transport issues faced by the city. One could for example mention: freight deliveries for a large agglomeration, an old city centre with narrow streets, daily congestion due to a large number of commuters, an old port (including a multimodal platform) and an industrial area next to the city centre, an international airport (for both passengers and freight), the presence of distribution platforms, serving both local and long distance markets, etc Basic information on the city Brussels is a metropolitan area of about 2.7 million inhabitants (the metropolitan area is defined here as the zone covered by the future express rail transit system - RER). Its central part, the Brussels-Capital Region, is the Capital city of Belgium, grouping a little less than 1 million inhabitants. It corresponds roughly to the area within the highway ring (in pale yellow on Figure 4). The rest of the metropolitan area is shared between the two other regions of Belgium, Flanders and Wallonia. Many initiatives to deal with transport in and around Brussels require the cooperation of the three autonomous regions, as well as of the federal government. This administrative setting is somewhat complex, and decision process can be quite long. Hereafter, when speaking of the Brussels region, we will always refer to the central, Brussels Capital Region, except when otherwise noticed. The Region of Brussels has lost population for 30 years (about 120,000 habitants), mostly through an out-migration of middle class families to the suburbs (recently, population has slightly increased, thanks to an inflow of lower class families). At the same time, employment in the Region increased slowly, from jobs in 1991 to in As a result, the number of daily commuters has dramatically increased. More than half the jobs in Brussels are filled with people coming from outside the region. At peak time, the road and rail infrastructure connecting Brussels to the rest of the country is saturated. 1 These employment figures are estimate based on the data update for the IRIS2 mobility plan (STRATEC, 2002). They differ from officially released figures, as estimates for international institutions and SNCB have been made. 46

47 FINAL REPORT cityfreight From a geographical point of view, employment has declined in the city centre, as shown on Figure 5 (the white zones), but this fall has been counterbalanced by a growth in more peripheral communes within the Region (in dark grey/black). Outside the Region, employment has grown. 80% of the communes shown in Figure 6 have seen employment grow in the last 10 years. In the agglomeration, as defined above, employment has grown by 70,000 in the last 10 years. Figure 4: Map of Brussels Besides these quantitative changes, economic activities also underwent an important mutation, with a strong decline of industrial and heavy tertiary activities and strong growth of private services. In the Region of Brussels, manufacturing industries account now for only 7% of employment. The main industries present in Brussels are the automotive industry, with one large assembly plant accounting for virtually all jobs in this sector, printing, chemicals and the food industry. Taken together, these fours sectors account for 60% of manufacturing employment in Brussels. Metal products and mechanical engineering are also present, though representing less employment than the previous four sectors. Construction activities (not included in manufacturing) represent 3% of employment. In the services sectors, transport services and wholesale trade is an important sector (10% of employment in the Region). This sector would even be more important if we include the metropolitan area, as many logistic and warehousing operation require a lot of space. The services sector saw a strong expansion in the past decades, because of the role of Brussels as a national and international public administration centre, and because a number of multinational companies established their European headquarters in Belgium (and often near or in Brussels) to benefit from a favourable tax regime. 47

48 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Figure 5: Changes in employment EMPLOYMENT CHANGES Variation of employment and more from to less than from 500 to less than from 0 to less than 500 from -500 to less than 0 from to less than -500 less than Highway Source: STRATEC Table 11: Some statistics about Brussels Population - Region of Brussels-capital (inhabitants in 2000) Area (km²) Population density (inh./km²) 5,944 Employment (1999) 641,800 Structure of economy Agriculture 0% Industry 7% Construction 3% Services (transport and wholesale trade) 13% Services 77% Source: MRBC, INS Brussels is at the centre of the highway and railway network of Belgium. International highways links to Antwerp and the Netherlands, to Liège and Germany, to Namur and Luxemburg, to Mons and France and to Ostend and the UK connect to the ring around Brussels. For railways, Brussels is the centre of the Belgian network, where international lines to the neighbouring countries meet. Because of this central position and the heavy flow of daily commuters, communication links around Brussels are saturated everyday at peak hours. Brussels has a fast growing international airport, located North East of the city in Zaventem (upper right corner of the map on Figure 4). 48

49 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Brussels is also connected to the Port of Antwerp through a high capacity canal, the Willebroek Canal, open to barges up to 9,000 tonnes and maritime units up to 4,500 tonnes. Short sea shipping is mostly with Scandinavian countries. The canal continues south to Charleroi (The Brussels to Charleroi canal), but at a much lower capacity (1,350 tonnes) Overview of goods transport flows Table 12 provides the goods flows in and out of the Brussels agglomeration. Brussels is a net importer of goods (24,938 kt imported against 15,820 kt exported). It has few industries that would export freight, and is a large population and services centre, that consume a number of goods that need to be imported. Table 12: Good flows to and from Brussels Thousand tonnes Exports Imports NSTR category Road Rail Waterways Road Rail Waterways 0 - Agricultural products Food products Solid fuels Petroleum products Ores and metal waste 5 - Metal products Minerals, building mat. 7 Fertilisers Chemicals Machinery, transport, misc. Total Modal shares 96.1% 2.0% 1.9% 79.6% 3.7% 16.7% Source: STRATEC Rail and waterways are mostly used to import energy products and construction materials. Rail is the least used transport mode, with a share of 4% on imports and 2% on exports. It is mostly used for importing coal and by VW for its assembly factory in the region. Waterways are used to import petroleum products, which come mainly from the port of Rotterdam (56%) and the port of Antwerp (44%), and construction materials, which come mostly from abroad (85%) and the port of Antwerp (11%). Road is virtually the only mode used for all the other goods categories. This is mostly for short to medium distance traffic. Of the freight that leave Brussels by road, 40% are shipped to the neighbouring provinces of Flemish and Walloon Brabant, 40% are shipped to the rest of Belgium, and 20% are exported out of Belgium. For agricultural and food products, road is the dominant mode, and destinations and origins are spread over the country. As a large city, Brussels of course imports food products from the surrounding regions. It also exports, as food processing is one of the most important industries in Brussels. 49

50 cityfreight FINAL REPORT For some categories, Brussels is used as a depot and distribution centre. For petroleum products and solid fuels, for example, a large share of the freight coming to Brussels arrive by train or barges, and is then distributed by road either locally or the rest of the country. In addition to three land modes, we must include the freight arriving at Brussels airport. This is a fast growing segment, with about 430,000 tonnes transiting through Brussels in 1995 and 700,000 in 2000 (about 350,000 tonnes in each direction). This represents less than 2% of total freight flows going in and out of Brussels. Freight traffic represents only 3.8% of the kilometres driven in Brussels (during the morning peak hour). A previous study by STRATEC showed that the presence of trucks increased car trip duration by 9.5% and fuel consumption by 4.5%. The impact is of course stronger in a few areas that attract a lot of freight traffic. These districts are mostly located along the canal axis. Figure 6: Freight vehicle departures, morning peak, 1996 Source: STRATEC Freight traffic in Brussels is indeed concentrated along this canal axis. Figure 6 shows the emission of heavy traffic, by district, in the morning peak. Heavy traffic is of course generated in all districts, but there is a clear concentration along the canal axis, especially North of the city, where all the heavy industries and logistics activities are located. The Tour & Taxi centre, located just North of the Pentagon, attracts a lot of heavy goods vehicles. Several transport companies are located there, with important warehousing facilities. However, a lot of traffic to these areas takes place outside peak hours, in order to avoid congestion or because freight needs to be delivered early. This is for example the case 50

51 FINAL REPORT cityfreight for the morning market for fresh products and the nearby European import centre for fruits and vegetables (located along the canal, halfway between city centre and the Ring to the North). Most client and suppliers arrive during the night, because the goods must be delivered before the shops opening time. The canal axis is also connected to the Ring via large 2x2 avenues. This allows an easy access for most traffic, except during peak hours, where congestion slows down all traffic. In the few paragraphs below, we briefly review the freight characteristics in some sectors. A. Fresh food The wholesale market for fresh products (fresh food, vegetables, flowers, etc.), named MABRU (Market Brussels), is located along the canal, halfway between city centre and the Ring to the North. It has a direct road connection to the ring and only road is used for transport. Clients come from Brussels, but also the rest of Belgium and even Southern Netherlands and Germany. Suppliers arrive from about noon to midnight, while clients (small retail shops, restaurants, etc.) arrive from very early in the morning to 8 am. Activities have decreased over time, as large supermarkets have an increasing share of the food-retailing sector. As most activities occur before the peak hour, and MABRU is located away from any residential area, there are very few problems linked to its location. It generates a flow of about 500 vehicles (a mixture of car, vans and trucks) per day. Next to MABRU is the European centre for fruits and vegetables. It is a first distribution platform for fruits and vegetables between South (mostly Spain, Italy and France) and North-West Europe (Benelux, Germany, eastern Europe), but it also includes products from other parts of the world. In terms of localisation, it has the same advantage as MABRU. Most of the activity takes place between 5 am and 7 am, and is thus not hindered by local traffic at peak time. It generates a flow of about a thousand vehicles (mostly trucks) trucks per day, and does not rely on rail or waterway transport. B. Supermarkets Supermarkets work with centralised distribution systems, with a limited number of warehouses in the country, and regular deliveries to the shops. Some of them use night or early morning deliveries, which reduce nuisances. They also all have off-street unloading facilities. Because deliveries are frequent (several per days), a decrease in the size of trucks, for example because of access restrictions, would increase the number of trips. C. Furnitures In Brussels, most of the big furniture stores are located in the periphery of the city. A periphery location allows a larger area for the shop, the warehouse and the parking areas. Some furniture shops are located in the city centre but over time, they moved their warehouses to the suburbs. This is typical of the development of transport intensive and space consuming activities, which have progressively relocated in industrial zones, where land is less expansive than in cities and with a good access to highways. D. Drinks The drink sector uses mostly road transport, with distribution centres located in the periphery of Brussels. Because small distances are usually involved, road is almost 51

52 cityfreight FINAL REPORT always used (rail is only efficient on long distances (several hundreds kilometres). Only in one case is rail used. Perrier Vittel has a distribution centre, located on a SNCB lot connected to the rail Network in the freight station South of Brussels. Contractually, a number of deliveries have to be made by train. The centre is supplied from France mostly by train. Trucks are used for the complement. However, the company does not consider extending the use of freight trains, because of poor service quality: trains are often late, and not always available. From this distribution centre, drinks are distributed by road to the clients, mostly large supermarkets in the periphery. E. Passenger traffic For passenger traffic, the use of private cars is dominant, in Brussels as elsewhere. The national survey of household mobility gives the following modal share (on a per trip basis) for households in Brussels on an average weekday. Figure 7: Modal shares for passenger transport of Brussels inhabitants Car (passenger) 17.4% Other 0.7% Walking 27.6% 2 wheelers 1.7% Car (driver) 39.8% Source: Enquête nationale sur la mobiité des ménages (2001) Public Transport 12.8% Land use and transport infrastructure The historical centre of Brussels, called the Pentagon, is depicted in dark yellow on the map. Figure 4 The main communication axis runs alongside the Eastern side of the Pentagon, from the Southwest of the Region to the Northeast. It includes the canal and the major railways lines, including several railway stations (passenger and freight). Historically, industrial and transport activities have developed along this axis, which currently remain relatively busy. There is also a political will to attract or stabilise activities in these areas, the only large industrial zone within the region of Brussels. The main activities of the port of Brussels are in the Northern part of this corridor, where the Canal is still at the 9,000t gauge. In this area are also located a number of other transport and logistics facilities: a bonded warehouse at "Tour et Taxi", a trimodal platform, the regional market for fresh products, the European centre for fruits and vegetables, transhipment centres for private transport companies, The airport is located at the north East of Brussels, and can be seen on the upper right corner of the map, in Zaventem. The area between the airport and Brussels has been one of the fastest developing areas (the communes of Zaventem, Machelen and Woluwé- St-Lambert, the black area northeast of the centre on Figure 6. 52

53 FINAL REPORT cityfreight The business centre is located in the pentagon, as well as in the neighbouring areas North and East of it Public policies and strategies A Regional Mobility Plan (including a freight transport plan) was published in It is currently under revision. It included propositions of measures on freight such as: Deliveries: On-street spaces set aside for deliveries and enforcement of parking regulations Rules governing delivery hours Common delivery areas for use by different commercial establishments Incentives for businesses and shops to build off-street facilities Requirement of transport authorisations in accordance with environmental permits for access to local streets of heavy goods vehicles. Heavy goods traffic Incentives for businesses to locate near the airport Creation of distribution centres Public areas for long-term parking of HGV Directions signals for commercial traffic on the Ring road Restrictions on traffic by very heavy vehicles to specific roads Improvement of transport and logistic facilities Revision of environmental standards applicable to heavy goods vehicles The use of waterways Improved access by road to businesses and harbour areas Building and promotion of a new rail and lorry freight terminal near the access to the harbour Upgrading of the Tour and Taxi warehouses Land to be made available for new intermodal transportation by water and road or water and rail, and an intermodal transport platform to be created near the access to the harbour, along with a container terminal Building of a facility for handling waste construction materials and households refuse at the Canal dyke and examination of the feasibility of transporting rubble and refuse by water. Few of these propositions have been implemented yet, though some are currently under discussion. Among the recent achievements, one can note the creation of a tri-modal (road-rail-waterways) platform in the Port. A plan to restrict heavy goods traffic to some designated routes is currently under discussion. To tackle the pollution and climate change problems, the Region of Brussels has set up a "plan air". One of its aims is to reduce traffic (in terms of vehicle-kilometres) by 20% in 10 years. 53

54 cityfreight FINAL REPORT There is also a lot of discussion on the possible creation of an urban delivery centre at Tour & Taxi, which would serve the city centre (pentagon). At this point, there is no political consensus on this proposal. Finally, a revision on the regulations on parking is currently under discussion. It is mostly concerned with passenger vehicles. For freight, in its current form, it would require office buildings with more than 1000 m² of office space to have an off-street delivery area, and industrial building above 500 m² Urban freight distribution problems Parking during loading unloading/operations. Parking space for deliveries is scarce in the city. Even when delivery areas do exist, they are rarely used, either because they are already occupied by other vehicles (often for long duration parking, not deliveries) or because the driver prefers to stop closer to its destination. In addition, enforcement of regulations related to parking is poor. Parking violations is not a priority for police forces. As a consequence, a lot of delivery vehicles stop in the street, and hinder traffic Access restrictions There are few access restrictions for freight vehicles in Brussels. In some pedestrianised areas, deliveries are allowed only in certain time windows. A plan to define freight routes where heavy traffic would be allowed, while it would be forbidden elsewhere except for local deliveries, is currently under discussion Long term parking for trucks Trucks arriving after the closing time of their clients or of the warehouses need to park overnight until the morning. In some neighbourhood, this causes a number of nuisances: loss of parking places, visual intrusion and early morning noise as trucks depart. In Brussels, a regulation forbids heavy trucks (above 3.5 tonnes) to park for more than 8 hours in a row except in designated areas. The creation of 5 such zones is considered in the mobility plan A needed modernisation of logistic facilities along the canal axis The logistic facilities proposed by the port of Brussels need modernising. The region is currently planning such investments. Some steps have already been taken, such as a new container park. A new tri-modal platform has been created, but with little success until now, as it is underused Lack of interest in non-road transport modes Few companies are interested in alternative transport modes, even those located along the canal or connected to the railways. The main reasons for this are the nature of the products or of the activity of the enterprise, as well as the insufficient quality of service in rail freight.. 54

55 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Impact on traffic, pollution, noise and quality of life A. Traffic Overall congestion is a problem for freight traffic, as it restricts the access to the city centre. In the other direction, freight traffic generates some congestion. Freight traffic represents only 3.8% of the kilometres driven in Brussels (during the morning peak hour). A previous study by STRATEC showed that, during the morning peak, the presence of trucks increased car trip duration by 9.5% and fuel consumption by 4.5%. The impact is of course stronger in a few areas that attract a lot of freight traffic. These districts are mostly located along the canal axis. B. Pollution Freight traffic is responsible for a large share of particulates and NO x emissions, which have a strong impact on urban air quality. In the case of NO x, for example, freight traffic is responsible for 41% of all transport emissions in the region. C. Noise Noise is perceived by the inhabitants of Brussels as a major problem of urban life. A survey showed that traffic is the most important source of noise problems, with road traffic coming first and air traffic coming second, because of the proximity of the airport. The Brussels authorities have issued proposals to improve the situation in this regard Helsinki Helsinki Metropolitan Area was selected a case region since it forms the densest urban area in Finland with almost one fifth of the population of the country. Several logistical junction points as logistics centres, airport and ports are located in the area causing urban freight traffic and periodical congestion on the road network. The growth of the capital area is more expeditious than in the other parts of the country tending to augment the nuisances of urban freight traffic in the future. Urban freight traffic has not received much development attention in isolation of the logistical chains or of the whole traffic infrastructure. Only some studies have been conducted concerning the freight traffic in Helsinki capital area, but development of freight traffic has gained increasingly interest by public authorities although total environmental impacts are smaller than with passenger traffic. However, detriments as noise and emissions are higher per a driven kilometre in freight traffic. In previous studies freight traffic problems have been established, land use models created and in research projects some specific solutions have been developed. General problem with solutions is the difficulty to measure the impacts to different stakeholders from different viewpoints. 55

56 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Basic information on the city The capital region of Finland is located in southern Finland on the coastline of Baltic sea The region is a part of the Nordic Triangle, the Turku - Helsinki - St. Petersburg - Moscow and Via Baltica corridor. The busiest airport of the country is located in the city of Vantaa. There are also four ports in Helsinki located close to the centre. One of the ports is major general goods port in Finland. Helsinki Metropolitan Area includes four cities (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen) of different sizes measured by population, area, structure of economy etc. The total population of the region was approximately 965,000 in 2001 while the area was 764 square kilometres as indicated in Table 13. The area of the region represents 0.2% of the country's while as much as 19% of the population in Finland reside in the metropolitan area. Table 13: Basic information about Helsinki Metropolitan Area Helsinki Espoo Vantaa Kauniainen HMA Population 559, , ,856 8, ,953 Area (Sq. km) Settlement density 3, ,424 1,263 Sources: Statistics Finland & The Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities. Approximately 355,000 employees were working in companies in 2000 as indicated in Table 14. In the same year there were approximately 52,000 outlets of companies whose total turnover was circa 89.7 milliards euros and the average turnover per outlet being circa 1.7 million euros. Table 14: Company information of the capital area Outlets Employees Turnover (1000 Euros) Espoo 9,579 64,812 20,365,134 Helsinki 35, ,449 50,972,906 Kauniainen ,465 Vantaa 7,330 62,317 18,270,300 HMA 52, ,509 89,716,805 Source: Statistics Finland. There are approximately 565,000 employees in Helsinki Metropolitan Area, out of which 19 % in processing industry, 39 % in private services, 16 % in trade, 25 % in public sector and 1 % in primary production. 2 There were in total almost 40,000 vans and lorries registered in the capital region in The division of the registered vehicles in different cities is presented in Table 15. Table 15: Number of registered goods vehicles in Helsinki Metropolitan Area Lorries Vans Espoo 4,698 1,377 Helsinki 17,975 5,874 Kauniainen Vantaa 6,372 2,498 HMA 29,155 9,784 Source: Vehicle Administration Centre. 2 Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (2002). Tavaraliikenteen logistiikkaselvitys, page

57 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Overview of goods transport flows Helsinki region is a junction of different goods transport flows of Finland because the main markets are southward and goods traffic infrastructure have been developed in the capital area. Major part of international sea, rail and air freight is transported through the capital area and it is also an important node for transit traffic. The internal freight traffic and distribution is performed by vans and lorries along roads while internal water and rail freight transport is virtually nil. Being hilly terrain, adequate canal or river infrastructure for transportation have not been developed in the capital region. Road transport has to be used in most cases in the transport chain for the rail network is too limited. National and international air freight and post transport in 2001 is presented in Table 16. As can be noticed, national airfreight traffic is low compared to international transport. Table 16: Air freight in the capital area in year 2001 Freight (tonnes) Post (tonnes) National, incoming 1, National, outgoing 2,524 1,676 Import 32,294 6,093 Export 34,407 5,687 Source: Helvi-Marjatta Pääkkönen, Statistics assistant. Civil Aviation Administration of Finland. All the ports of Helsinki Metropolitan Area are located in Helsinki and their both national and international traffic volumes are indicated in Table 17 concerning the year International sea freight traffic is considerably more voluminous than national traffic due to longer distances. Table 17: Sea freight in Helsinki in year 2001 Incoming / tonnes Outgoing / tonnes National 833,916 13,573 International 5,583,200 5,036,098 Source: Arkima, Antti, Finnish Maritime Administration. The rail freight transport is presented in Table 18 for the year The total includes both national and international transport. International traffic is divided into the one destined to west and the other to east. Table 18: Rail freight traffic in Helsinki Metropolitan Area in 2001 Incoming (tonnes) Outgoing (tonnes) Total 930, ,000 International, west International, east 35,000 24,000 Source: Lahelma, Harri, Senior inspector, Finnish Rail Administration. The most voluminous freight traffic is performed by road transport, where incoming traffic is almost 60% more voluminous than outgoing. Approximately 2.0 millions tonnes of incoming and 1.9 million tonnes of outgoing freight of the total road freight of the figures in Table 19 is directed to and from the ports. Table 19: Road freight traffic in the capital region in 2001 Incoming (tonnes) Outgoing (tonnes) 20,700,000 13,100,000 Source: Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (2002), Tavaraliikenteen logistiikkaselvitys, page

58 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Sea freight transit traffic is most important of all modes and the volumes are presented in Table 20. Table 20: Sea transit traffic in 2001 Incoming / tonnes Outgoing / tonnes Total 822, ,394 Source: Finnish Maritime Administration. The total rail freight transit in 2001 in Finland was 4 millions tonnes of which 17,000 tonnes considered the capital area. There is not information on air transit traffic. The internal goods transport in Helsinki Metropolitan Area is executed by lorries and vans. Goods and service traffic accounts for 15% of the area s total road traffic. There was approximately 24.4 million tonnes of internal road freight traffic in the capital area of which 2.3 million tonnes are internal traffic of ports in Division of goods types transported on the capital road network is presented in Figure 8. The majority is freight of construction industry. Figure 8: Distribution of internal road traffic in Helsinki Metropolitan Area DISTRIBUTION OF INTERNAL ROAD TRAFFIC (millions tons) Products of agriculture and food industry Products of woodworking and forest industry 1.5 Fuel and lubricants Products of metal iindustry Products of construction industry Products of chemical iindustry 13.4 Textiles Various parcelled goods Waste, empty load Ploughing etc. Source: Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (2002). Tavaraliikenteen logistiikkaselvitys, page 21. Air and sea passenger traffic is presented in Table 21 and Table 22. The figures in Table 22 contain mainly ferry cruises of which the international trips are mostly directed to Estonia and Sweden. 3 Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (2002). Tavaraliikenteen logistiikkaselvitys, page

59 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Table 21: Air passenger traffic in Helsinki region in year 2001 Incoming Outgoing National 1,503,504 1,144,497 International 3,496,334 2,897,584 Source: Helvi-Marjatta Pääkkönen, Statistics assistant. Civil Aviation Administration of Finland. Table 22: Sea passenger traffic in Helsinki region in year 2001 Incoming Outgoing National 2,410,184 International 4,510,306 4,470,014 Source: Arkima, Antti, Finnish Maritime Administration. Approximately 5.1 millions trips were realised by long-distance trains in the metropolitan area in Approximately 3 millions passenger trips are realised in the capital region every day. The citizens of the capital region moved 21 kilometres in average per day. The distribution between different means of transportation measured by travelled distance is presented in Table 23. Table 23: Distribution of passenger traffic in the capital region in 2001 MEANS SHARE Light traffic 8 % Public transport 38 % Passenger car 53 % Other 1 % Source: Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (2002), Liikkumisen nykytila, Excepting peak periods in certain areas, the overall traffic in Helsinki region is relatively fluent. Morning and afternoon rush hours are largely emerged by passenger car traffic congestion that retards coincident freight distribution as well. Climate and weather also cause episodic problems to urban freight traffic and distribution in Helsinki region due to the northern location and closeness to sea coast. Slippiness of roads causes accidents, retardation of traffic and therefore difficulties to predict transport and distribution times as well as rise of distribution costs during wintertime. Coldness causes also an elevation of traffic emissions. Road and street maintenance during winter includes ploughing of snow and salting. Ploughing may impede road traffic although it is not generally realised during congestion hours. Salting causes environmental problems and rusting of transport equipment. The structure of cities in the capital region resembles other Finnish cities concerning land use and concentration of urban activities. The cities are scattered in a relatively vast area with suburbs usually separated by expansive green belts, which causes an increment in mileage. The region contains four major ports in Helsinki, the most important airport of the country and several freight terminals, which are reasons for more intensive freight traffic than in other cities in Finland. Special characteristics of the transport infrastructure are the close location of ports to the centre of Helsinki, lack of rail track to the airport and deficient underground network that cause an increase in road traffic. 59

60 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Land use and transport infrastructure A map of land use is presented in Figure 9. Black area present industrial and warehouse sites including freight terminals and port activities. As can be seen the majority of this category is located further away from the centre of Helsinki along good transport connections to road, railroad or airport. All the four ports are located in Helsinki causing road freight traffic in the centre. Figure 9: Map of land use in Helsinki region LAND USE Conservation area Industry and warehouses Constructed area (not industry) Not constructed The transport infrastructure is presented in Figure 10: Map of transport infrastructure in Helsinki Region. Outlets of terminals, warehouses and harbours include also headquarters and sales offices of the companies that are categorised in this line of business. Terminals, warehouses, industrial sites, ports and airport form an important set of origin and destination points. However, majority of the destination nodes as restaurants, grocery shops and other emporiums are located in population centres. There is rail network connected to ports enabling rail freight traffic in inter-urban transportation. Nonetheless, most of intra-regional transport is realised along intermittently congested roads and streets. As can be seen by the two presented figures, construction could be more concentrated and freight traffic infrastructure is not ideally located. Movements between ports, airport 60

61 cityfreight FINAL REPORT and rail freight station is performed partly on the roads congesting the network. A relief will be offered by concentration of port activities to the new port of Vuosaari. Figure 10: Map of transport infrastructure in Helsinki Region INFRASTRUCTURE Outlets of harbour Outlets of cargo handling and w arehousing companies TAMPERE LAHTI Railw ay Underground Trunk road Road Airport PORVOO LAHTI TURKU HANKO Previously presented freight traffic figures are presented on the map of Figure 11: Traffic flows in the capital area. The numbers are in tonnes and of the year 2001 except for the internal freight traffic that dates from

62 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Figure 11: Traffic flows in the capital area 4, ,000 National air freight 2,170 International air freight 38,387 Rail freight 40, ,000 13,100,000 Road freight (year 1999) 20,700,000 Road freight transit (year 1999) Internal road freight (year 1999) 4,100,000 24,400, ,394 Sea freight transit 833,916 5,583,200 National sea freight International sea freight 13, ,973 5,036,098 Public policies and strategies 4 Congestion is increasing problem drawing more attention in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. A focal objective of the traffic policy of Helsinki is to promote public transport. This affects freight traffic and distribution indirectly if traffic is reduced. However, a major reduction in the freight traffic of Helsinki city centre will be realised by construction of the new port of Vuosaari and concentrating there the present freight port activities. New road and rail connections of the port will go outside the city centre decreasing thus freight traffic problems in the centre of Helsinki. Despite the concentration of port activities, freight distribution remains, but the harms are tried to be prevented. In town planning the zones creating most heavy traffic are being concentrated in the areas, where freight traffic causes the least problems. Special routes are made for freight traffic and dangerous goods transport Chapter is based on the interviews and publications.

63 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Service traffic including freight distribution is intended to be facilitated in the centre of Helsinki by developing underground service traffic network. Pedestrians would gain from this, especially if some streets are transformed to pedestrian streets as planned in the centre of Helsinki. Time restrictions of service traffic also pursue to the benefit of pedestrians by compressing the freight distribution time and quieten down the busiest locomotion time. Transportation of small lots is inefficient and expensive due to lack of cooperative models for consolidated transports. It is essential to follow the development and support positive development of city logistics by authorities in the coming years. Environmental impacts have been taken into consideration in traffic planning in Helsinki for several years after the new regulations of evaluation of environmental impacts in construction law was promulgated in In South Finland it is considered important to develop technology and cooperation in order to decrease environmental hazards Urban freight distribution problems Operational problems The new trend of just in time flows in retail shops causes smaller delivery lots, more frequent deliveries and therefore more freight traffic in urban areas. The problem is more substantial in the city centre of Helsinki during peak periods in the morning and afternoon when haulage is protracted. It is therefore suggested to allow the use of bus lanes for freight traffic. On the other hand, some goods like construction materials are not as daytime critical as groceries and should therefore be transported during congestion free hours. Bus lanes are also partly used by passenger cars against regulations on account of deficient enforcement. There are certain bottlenecks on the road network that cause congestion also to larger areas as in the centre of Helsinki, along Ring Road I, Turuntie, Turunväylä and Länsiväylä. Stopping in the delivery process is problematic in the centre of Helsinki. There is an insufficient number of adequate delivery stops for loading and unloading, especially for freight transportation vehicles along pedestrian streets. The markings of loading and unloading places for freight vehicles are also inadequate. Lack of manifest stopping places and delivery solutions along pedestrian streets have caused wrong parking and parking beside the vehicle performing delivery. Time regulations for unloading operations also hinder practical unloading. Pedestrian streets have become common loading places. Regulations are not respected and a simultaneous lack of enforcement induces thus safety risks among others. In general there is an insufficient number of parking and unloading sites for containers and trailers. Passenger cars are being parked on street sides and it is also suggested that there ought to be more parking halls for cars. It is being complained that the street network and traffic circles are narrow for freight traffic. The regulations prevent articulated trucks to enter the city centre of Helsinki due to their lengthiness. The transportation vehicles have increased in size becoming therefore too big for deliveries in some buildings. This happens because architecture has not taking into consideration the height of two-level resolutions of some car bodies. It is increasingly common that drivers of transport vehicles transfer daily consumer goods to shelves. This has augmented the workload of drivers. The high workload is emphasised in the situations where the vehicle should be parked far away on account of the lack of loading places or drivers should convey the charge to several floors. Being wearisome work with sometimes-abnormal working hours, there is a lack of drivers and turnover of the existing ones is high. 63

64 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Delivery is in part uncoordinated and there exists underutilisation of transport capacity owing to small delivery lots. It is estimated that consolidated transportation would be beneficial in the centre of Helsinki and the disadvantages and potentials ought to be explored. Companies are not interested in the idea of a logistics centre, whereupon finding adequate partners for transportation could be a solution for decreasing transportation. There might also be potential in developing reverse logistics so that groceries would collect recyclable material from customers and deliverymen would take care of the transport to recycling sites, for example. At present inflexible timetable of rail traffic reduces the incentive to use it as a means of freight transport. In addition to inflexible and sometimes imprecise trains, timing of traffic lights should also be more precise Problems in land use and infrastructure Dwelling and office buildings have sometimes been planned too close to logistics activities, which have led to congestion and pressure to relocate logistics activities. There has also been coercion to relocation by increased logistics costs caused by rising land price. By courtesy of opposition of citizens to detriments of logistical centres, there are difficulties to reserve territories for them in city plans. It is suggested that when the freight terminal is moved out of Pasila, a reservation would be made in town planning for the purpose of city logistics as cross-docking operations. However, grand reforms are in general difficult to make in town plans in the capital area since there is short of space in Helsinki and resistance to changes is high. Performance of terminals and harbours are hampered by the dense city structure and the location of ports is not ideal, causing urban freight traffic. It will be attenuated by the construction of the new port of Vuosaari and by the concentration of port activities. The land transport centre of Pasila has also a rather central location causing urban freight traffic. It is complained that all resolutions do not pursue for fluidity of traffic as bollards on the streets and narrowing some streets that causes deceleration and acceleration of vehicles that await buses to leave from bus stops. Nor hauliers appreciate ramps because damages are easily caused with high loads. On the viewpoint of authorities these reduce flow-through traffic in residential areas and therefore improve residential environment. According to a survey, a quarter of the citizens and 60% of business managers find these useful in residential streets. In the centre it is necessary to exploit all the area as efficiently as possible, whereupon the space requirements of freight traffic are easily neglected. The objective of a functional and comfortable city centre enjoins a comprehensive solution for all the activities of the centre. In this process, the old urban structure has to be transmuted to serve the requirements of the present days for which strong cooperation between authorities and companies is necessitated as well as certainty on desired impacts of the intent Problems in logistics market Structural changes in the market is a problem for transport companies for deliveries might abruptly be performed between different enterprises with new ways of action and the capacity of the transport equipment may be under- or oversized for the new situation. The logistics market is fragmented with thousands of small transport companies. With the lack of cooperation problems arise for example with the integration of data systems as well as in combining deliveries. 64

65 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Other problems in logistics market are that the available logistics services are not exploited sufficiently and labour costs in Finland are high compared to other European countries Problems in policies and regulations Road pricing has been presented occasionally as a solution for raising funds for road construction and maintenance. This would already increase the high cost level of the capital region. Time and traffic restrictions are not easily accepted. There is also resistance to EU regulations on driving and resting time. It is claimed that authorities and decision makers of the city of Helsinki obstruct existent traffic and service connections prior to substitutive alternatives have been implemented. There is a lack of sufficient transparency in preparation of public measures. According to some hauliers, the objectives of traffic intents are often to close or regulate present connections instead of making new connections functional. The trend in traffic policy has been favourable to public transport and operational preconditions of freight distribution are not always recalled to take into consideration for example in town, traffic and construction planning Environmental problems When traffic sustains aggravation by authorities or congestion, it is not as smooth as possible, whereupon the emissions of traffic are higher. Emissions, noise and security risks are some of the greatest problems noted and complained by citizens. It is claimed that hauliers do not follow traffic regulations, drive against red traffic lights and are speeding being often in a hurry. According to authorities it is well grounded to have driving and time restrictions for freight distribution in pedestrian centres due to caused detriments. A question is raised if it was possible to alleviate the mobilisation of pro-environmental hauliers as electric cars by a shift in taxation. According to authorities, companies should more strongly urge the transports within the restrictions during permissible time along the routes reserved for freight traffic Problems in adoption of new technology Inter company data transmission is always a problem if EDI and XML data transfer cannot be established. There is a general problem of seeking and creating resolution for problems. Usage of code bars and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tags ought to be increased. Usage of RFIDs is only on the experimental stage. There is a lack of standards concerning the form of data and data transfer between organisations and therefore various system coexist that are not directly compatible with each other. Progress is also rapid causing reluctance for continuous investments especially in small and medium-sized transport companies. 65

66 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Other problems Present service premises are partly undersized and poorly designed for loading and unloading activities. Loading platforms are not depositories. Efficient goods transport enables continuous usage of the same platform. Goods belonging to the warehouse should be kept out of driving routes. There is a need for better management of urban distribution operations. There is inertness in driving to underground service tunnels since goods can also be delivered on the streets to consignees. They, for one's part do not require using service premises since goods might have to be fetched from downstairs of buildings Tampere Introduction Tampere region and two other economic growth centres in Southern Finland (Turku region and the Helsinki Metropolitan Area) form a so-called triangle area, where the regions are located only in about 200 km distance from each other. Tampere is a significant node of road and rail transport connections of Southern Finland. The city is facing notable growth in population, local economy, purchasing power and thus in amount of transported cargo in the area. The latest comprehensive logistics study 5 in the Tampere region dates back from The study aimed to find ways to improve town s competitiveness in logistics terms and to launch a regional logistics centre. However, the establishment of the centre did not materialize due to the unwillingness of competing companies to start such close cooperation. In spring 2002, a study 6 covering goods transportation and its future prospects in the Tampere Region 7 was published. The study anticipates the growing importance of the region in national transport and increasingly international transport flows. Logistics companies in the region expect that reliability, punctuality, services covering the whole supply chain, and tracking and tracing of transports will gain more importance in the future logistics. In these two studies, distribution traffic was covered only concisely. Also in the local and regional planning and development, the needs of goods distribution and goods transportation in general have been in great deal neglected. The lack of information concerning the distribution traffic was one of the major reasons for Tampere s participation in the City Freight project. Tampere is also the biggest inland city in the Nordic countries and therefore an important logistical node. Growing traffic volumes in the centre of Tampere and on the other hand the ongoing programs to improve accessibility and liveliness of the centre (for example by increasing pedestrian street areas) lead to a need to make the goods traffic more fluent and on the other hand less disturbing especially in the centre area. Therefore, issues to be dealt within the City Freight project are aimed to be connected to other development projects (such as Centre1 and e-tampere) and support their realization from the goods transport s side. 5 Tampereen Viatek Oy (1995) 6 Council of Tampere Region et al. (2002) 7 Tampere Region (or Pirkanmaa) consists of 33 municipalities and 6 subregions. Tampere subregion consists of 7 municipalities (Kangasala, Lempäälä, Nokia, Pirkkala, Tampere, Ylöjärvi and Vesilahti). 66

67 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Basic information on the city The city of Tampere has 197,774 inhabitants and therefore accounts as the biggest inland city in the Nordic countries. The surrounding Tampere subregion has nearly 300,000 inhabitants and is facing one of the highest population growth rates in Finland; the population is expected to augment by 20,000 inhabitants within the next 10 years. Tampere forms a part of the HHT development zone (Helsinki Hämeenlinna Tampere) that accommodates one third of the Finnish population. The city occupies a total land area of sq. km (and sq. km water area). That makes population density 373 inhabitants per land sq. km. 8 Tampere is located by the Finland s main rail track, which allows high-speed rail traffic. The Helsinki Tampere motorway is part of the TEN network. Other highway connections link Tampere to Turku, Pori, Vaasa, Jyväskylä and Lahti. The Tampere Pirkkala International Airport accommodates modern facilities for cargo traffic and international connections are planned to be increased. The main ports used by Tampere region s exporting and importing companies are the port of Helsinki and the ports of South-West Finland. Fast communication connections are aimed to be maintained at internationally high standard. 9 In 1999, there were about 100,000 employees (jobs) in Tampere, out of which 21% employed in industry, 16% in trade and catering, 15% in financing and real estate sectors, and 8% in traffic and communication. Out of employees in the industrial sector, 52% were employed by metal industry, 17% by forest and paper industry, 12% by chemical industry, 10% by textile industry and 8% by food industry. 10 In 2000, the 10,148 companies located in Tampere generated collectively turnover of 12,9 million euro 11. Tampere is one of the national level centres and is increasingly tempting dwellers from the other municipalities in the Tampere Region and even further to do shopping (especially for clothing and electronics) 12. According to a recent study, the turnover of wholesaling and retailing companies in the Tampere Region is expected to face annual growth rate of 3%. High processed industry is estimated to grow annually 4,7% and basic industry 1,9% 13. Nearly 12% of the companies operating in Tampere are located in the centre. Out of these, 33% are service companies, 26% trade, 25% industry, and 16% maintenance or construction companies. In , the number of companies in the centre was doubled. The turnover generated by the companies accounted approximately to 1,700 million euro in Retailing accounts for the quarter and industry for one fifth of the turnover. Specialised stores account for 63% of the retailing sales and non-specialised for the rest City of Tampere (2002e), Council of Tampere Region (2002b) 9 Council of Tampere Region (2002b) 10 City of Tampere (2000e) 11 Statistics Finland (2002a) 12 Council of Tampere Region (2002a) 13 Council of Tampere Region et al. (2002) 14 Centre1 67

68 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Overview of goods transport flows Road transport clearly dominates Tampere Region s departing and arriving goods flows (Table 24). Neighbouring regions of Uusimaa, Southwest Finland, Satakunta (which accommodate the major sea ports in Southern Finland) and Häme account 66% both of the departing and arriving goods flows by road. Air transport is mainly used for international cargo transports. The Tampere Pirkkala International Airport serves most passengers (266,000 in 2001) in Finland after the Helsinki Vantaa airport. Inland waterway connections in the Tampere area are only utilised for tourism or log driving. Table 24: Departing and arriving goods volumes in Tampere (2001) 1000 t Departing Arriving Internal Total Air transport Rail transport* Land transport* 5,857 8,738 22,422 37,017 * Tampere Region (Pirkanmaa) Sources: Civil Aviation Administration (2002), Finnish Rail Administration (2002), Statistics Finland (2002b). Currently, there are no extensive studies available on volumes and direction of goods traffic within Tampere. Tampere s traffic model (TALLI 2000) estimates traffic volumes in different parts of the town s street network on the basis of different land use types and traffic counts that were conducted in The database for the model is being extended all the time thus improving the accuracy of estimates for current and prospected traffic flows. The city centre, connections to other towns and ring roads are most burdened with truck traffic. 15 It is estimated that about 5 10 % of the load on the road and street network in Tampere subregion is caused by vans and about 8 13 % by trucks 16. Most severely congested streets in Tampere are Hämeenkatu, Pispalan valtatie and Paasikiven Kekkosen tie. In the summertime, these streets are heavily used also by tourists visiting the sights (such as the Särkänniemi leisure centre). Congestions at the western ring road transfers some through traffic to the city centre, which worsens the congestion in the centre and its adjacent areas. Generally, traffic volumes strongly fluctuate depending on the time of the day, the main rush hour being 4 5 p.m. Circumstances for deliveries have worsened and therefore deliveries have been partly shifted to evenings and nighttime. 17 Table 25: Registered goods vehicles in Tampere and Tampere Subregion in 2001 Trucks Vans Total Tampere 2,067 6,280 8,347 Tampere 1,322 4,486 5,808 Subregion Total 3,389 10,766 14,155 Source: The Finnish Vehicle Administration (2002). 15 Technical University of Tampere (2002) 16 TASE 2010, referred in Council of Tampere Region (2002b) 17 Council of Tampere Region (2002b), Council of Tampere Region et al. (2002) 68

69 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Land use and transport infrastructure The Tampere central business district accommodates 12% of the town s companies 18. Despite of the new shopping centres in connection with hypermarkets along the ring roads and emerge of neighbourhood centres (such as Hervanta and Lielahti), the centre still dominates in number of office buildings, department stores, shopping centres, small specialty shops, and restaurants. In addition to Hervanta and Lielahti, there are about dozen local centres in Tampere. Due to new hypermarkets, the number of small and medium sized grocery stores in the centre and suburbs has diminished. During 80s and 90s the number of perishable goods stores in Tampere were reduced in half. This has lengthened resident s average distance to stores and increased the need for cars. Today, hypermarkets and large supermarkets have the highest market share in perishable goods market. Despite the notable decrease in number of perishable goods stores, the number of specialty stores has grown. Some of them have relocated in the premises of the hypermarkets, which has decreased the profitability of stores in the centre. 19 In order to maintain the liveliness of the city centre, it is important to retain department stores and specialty stores in the downtown. This is one of the major goals of Tampere s Centre1 project to be dealt more in detail later. Industrial sites in Tampere are located in different directions. Myllypuro and Rusko are suitable for industrial and warehousing activities, which require a lot of space. Myllypuro is also equipped with industrial rail track. Sarankulma accommodates several industrial companies and is served with good transportation connections. Lahdesjärvi area is a new business park that has good connections to the main road network and airport and aims to reduce environmental impacts from the business activities in the area. 20 The Council of Tampere Region has published a Plan for Regional Structure in This plan merely presents different alternatives how the regional structure could develop in the future and what kind of effects (on car traffic and socio-economic conditions) each alternative would generate. The fundamental difference between the alternative models is the direction of development towards regional structure with either a single centre or with multiple centres. A city with multiple centres would ease problems with congestions. However, the environmental impacts of goods traffic would increase due to increase in total km driven. The Plan also discusses whether new hypermarkets, which usually locate apart from the settlement area, should be allowed. Alternatively new stores could rather be supermarkets, which would locate in suburbs. The stores for goods demanding a lot of space could be located in such a way that also customers from other municipalities easily access them. The development of traffic infrastructure and traffic arrangements is needed to improve the fluency of traffic both within and outside the city centre. These needs have been expressed in various strategies and programs to be explained further in Chapter Public policies and strategies. The improvement is needed for the following parts of the traffic system: Reduction of passenger car traffic in city centre (improving of parking arrangements and establishment of tram traffic has been considered as possible solutions) 18 Centre1 19 Council of Tampere Region (2002b), Suunnittelukeskus Oy (2001) 20 City of Tampere (1998) 21 Council of Tampere Region (2002b) 69

70 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Reduction of congestion and other traffic problems especially in the centre (Hämeenkatu), Pispala and Paasikiven-Kekkosen tie Restructuring of city centre s traffic network Construction of the second ring road with a connection to the airport Construction of the western ring road is needed to reduce unnecessary through traffic in the city centre Finishing of construction work of Helsinki - Tampere motorway Establishment of fast train connection between Helsinki and Tampere Increase in capacity of traffic system to the level required by the population growth Removal of other logistical bottlenecks. Some of the above mentioned investments and projects have been postponed mainly due to the lacking financing. This especially applies to the western ring road. Construction of new dwelling will be concentrated to Vuores area that is located in the southern part of the town. The planned second ring road of Tampere will pass from the Lahti road via Vuores to the airport. Figure 12 illustrates town structure of Tampere. As already mentioned, the city centre and Hervanta (and increasingly Lielahti) are the major retail centres. Hypermarkets and supermarkets are located along the ring roads. Hatanpää, Nekala and Santalahti, that are located rather close to the centre, accommodate stores for durable goods (cars, furniture, household appliances). Industrial districts are scattered around the town. Figure 12: Tampere s town structure and streets with highest lorry traffic volumes Traffic volumes are based on the calculations of TALLI 2000 model (Technical University of Tampere) 70

71 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Public policies and strategies Local and regional authorities in the Tampere region have produced various strategies and programs concerning traffic, regional structure, business sector and environment. To some extend, these documents overlap and share similar aims for improving traffic conditions in sustainable manner. The documents speak for development of transport infrastructure, avoidance of congestion, development of national and international connections, improvement of traffic safety, decrease of noise and emission level from traffic, meeting the needs of business life, and improvement of attractiveness both in the city centre and suburbs. Tightening of land use in the city is expected to reduce the demand for traffic. The strategies handle traffic issues mainly in general terms, and goods transports (not to mention distribution transports) are only occasionally mentioned separately. The Traffic Systems Plan for the Tampere Region (TASE 2010) from 1997 defined objectives and pivotal actions needed to improve traffic systems. Among these were for example a need to increase accessibility and attractiveness of the city centres by reorganising the street network, development of parking guidance, utilisation of new technologies and calming traffic in neighbourhoods 22. In 2002, a preagreement for traffic system in Tampere region was approved to enhance the realization of the objectives mentioned in TASE 2010 Plan and to co-ordinate the needed actions to be taken in These actions encompasses (in addition to ones already mentioned above) the decrease of through traffic in city centre, construction of western ring road, improvement of traffic safety, development of the main street network and regional traffic management system, introduction of digital traffic data system (DIGIROAD) in Tampere, tightening of land use instead of spreading, development of the zone around Ring Road II. Further, the preagreement enhances the implementation of the regional plan and industrial strategy. Tampere is drafting a new component master plan for traffic arrangements in the city centre. The draft is expected to be approved by the end of year The plan will implement objectives mentioned in TASE 2010 plan and in the preagreement. Retail companies are persuaded to have an active role in the process. Among other things, the development of service traffic access to pedestrian streets and underground parking solutions will be considered to solve traffic problems in the centre. 23 Topics related to general development of Tampere s city centre have been dealt within Centre1 project. This project has attempted to realise the goals to improve and develop the city centre both from the residents and companies point of view. The vision set in the project states for example that by year 2010 the service traffic (including maintenance and distribution) is placed underground and thus leaves the main street (Hämeenkatu) a pedestrian street. Service traffic is restricted to hours between 20 pm and 11 am and is more environmentally friendly with noiseless vehicles. Traffic volumes are decreased by carrying out simultaneously both collection and distribution of goods. 24 Through its e-tampere program the city aims to improve the level of ICT know-how among the town residents and companies. Within the program, a number of projects have been launched to realise set objectives. E-Tampere acts as local implementation of e- Europe program. 25 In 2000, a telematics program was launched to establish co-operation between different actors (authorities, companies and research organisations) and to inform about ongoing projects. Telematics solutions have been widely developed and 22 Kangasala et al. (1997) 23 City of Tampere (2002e) 24 Centre1 25 City of Tampere (2002e) 71

72 cityfreight FINAL REPORT tested in Tampere s public transports. Results from these projects could provide solutions for goods traffic as well. One planned solution is to install overheight vehicle warning systems before tunnels and bridges Urban freight distribution problems A number of transportation, logistics, wholesaling and retail companies as well as local authorities in Tampere were interviewed about problems and development needs in the local distribution transportation. Additionally, the interviewees were asked to name possible solutions to handle the problems. The most often mentioned problem concerned the lack of adequate stopping and parking spots for delivery vehicles in the city centre. As a consequence, vehicles often need to stop in unsuitable places (on the street or on boardwalk). This causes a lot of nuisance to other traffic. Also pedestrian streets and some narrow streets make distribution often cumbersome. Interviewed companies hoped that designated stopping spots for goods transport vehicles would be available in the centre. Also distribution areas of the buildings should be highlighted so that delivery vehicles and other traffic can easily notice them. The fluency of traffic is weak during the peak hours (early morning and late afternoon). Also poor unloading facilities at consignees and several ongoing construction works in the centre have caused delays in deliveries. Construction of the western ring road is vital in order to reduce through traffic in the congested centre area. The expected growth in population may bring further problems with the capacity of the street network. According to the respondents, the fluency of the goods transport could be improved for example by allowing goods vehicles to use bus lanes, restricting private car traffic in the city centre, delivering suitable consignments by foot, bicycle or van instead of trucks, and combining and concentrating deliveries (usage of restricted number of distributors and transport companies). The initiative for combining the deliveries should be originated from consignees, who in many cases also pay for the delivery. Construction works in the city should be planned so that the traffic during peak hours is not totally restricted. Residents close to big stores and cargo terminals are often irritated by noises caused by cargo handling, vehicles waiting for loading/unloading turn, or sounds from backing alert devices. Also general attitude towards goods traffic is sometimes rather negative and other traffic drivers are not flexible towards slower and bigger goods transport vehicles. It was proposed in the interviews that there should be more information given in driving schools and in media about the requirements of heavy goods vehicles (and especially of dangerous cargo vehicles). In order to avoid noise and other harms, restrictions to hours of deliveries have been posed. However, limiting deliveries to certain hours may worsen congestion and therefore cause more nuisances. Restrictions also make the efficient planning of deliveries more complicated. The interviewees hoped more co-operation and exchange of information between the local authorities and companies. Interaction is needed so that different actors understand and take into account each other s needs. Early involvement of companies in development projects increases their commitment to the set goals. It was also suggested that the local authorities and companies should prepare a common vision on the development of distribution and goods traffic in Tampere. Combining deliveries is seen as a potential solution to reduce traffic flows and increase effectiveness of deliveries. However, in practise attempts to establish wide scale co- 26 Tampereen Viatek Oy (2002) 72

73 FINAL REPORT cityfreight operation among logistics actors in Tampere has been unsuccessful. City also lacks an open logistics centre. Still, some successful examples of combining deliveries (especially of food products) do exist. Utilisation of information and communications technology in logistics has increased significantly and in general terms the interviewees were satisfied with the present situation in managing information flows. However, the usage of electronic communications could be more extensive than it is now. Further, pilot projects could be started to enhance the usage of ICT in local companies. A number of additional problems were mentioned in the interviews: transportation of dangerous goods in the city centre, inefficient usage of transport capacity, narrow profit margins due to fierce competition in the logistics sector and high fuel prices, need for adequate routes for special transports, need to adapt signal lights to the needs of heavy vehicles, and lack of some oversized transport services Vasaa Introduction Vaasa is a middle sized Finnish town with inhabitants, whereas the Vaasa Region accommodates inhabitants. Vaasa is an important centre of trade and services in Western Finland as residents from other municipalities frequently visit it for shopping and other business. Town s total area is 186 sq. km and population density 306 inh. / sq. km. 27 The town of Vaasa is located in the middle of the Finnish west coastline, at a point where the width of the Gulf of Bothnia is at its narrowest. Due to this natural connection, the sea link to Sweden (to town of Umeå) is important for goods and passenger transports. However, the abolishment of tax-free sale on trips between Sweden and Finland in 1999 collapsed passenger volume from 1 million to about and has caused profitability problems to the ferry companies operating the link. Since the link is important for tourism and other business sectors both in Vaasa and Umeå, the towns endeavour to maintain the continuity of the ferry connection. The zone from Vaasa via Tampere to Helsinki forms the Via Finlandia development zone. Through co-operation, regional councils and towns along the zone strive for improving not only traffic conditions but also sustainable development. The highway running from Oulu via Vaasa to Turku forms an important goods transport route. Production in the Vaasa Region has concentrated in the city of Vaasa, which produces 84% of the regional net production. The most important fields of industry in Vaasa are information technology and electronics, energy, motor, plastics and chemical industry. In 1998, there were 30,963 jobs in Vaasa. According to different development scenarios, the number of jobs will amount to 30,000, 34,000 or 38,000 employees by year Currently, industry and construction employ 30% of the workforce, whereas commercial and service sectors employ 65% 29. In 1999, there were 2,695 companies in Vaasa. In 1998, the total turnover of the 387 retail stores located in Vaasa amounted to 296 million Town of Vaasa (2002) 28 Regional Council of Ostrobothnia (2001) 29 Town of Vaasa (2002) 30 Town of Vaasa (1999) 73

74 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Overview of goods transport flows Goods transports volumes of Vaasa are expressed in Table 26. Due to Vaasa s production structure and lack of railway goods terminal, nearly all national goods traffic to/from Vaasa is transported by road. Electrification of the Vaasa Tampere rail track and construction of the terminal would enable growth in rail transports and thus offer an environmentally friendly alternative. About one half of the departing goods flows transported by trucks is directed to neighbouring Etelä-Pohjanmaa and Keski-Pohjanmaa regions. Etelä-Pohjanmaa is the source of one third of incoming land transport flows. Table 26: Volume of goods traffic in year ,000 t Departing Arriving Total Sea transport 252 1, Air transport Rail transport Land transport 4 3,254 5,134 8,388 1 including t domestic traffic 2 including mail 3 Vaasa Region 4 Vaasa Region, additionally t internal traffic in the region Sources: Port of Vaasa (2002), Civil Aviation Administration (2002), Finnish Rail Administration (2002), Statistics Finland (2002). Sea transports account a major share of international transports. Vaasa airport is Finland s 5 th busiest airport measured in passenger volumes. However, the goods volumes through the airport are currently very modest and contain mainly international cargo. The lengthening of the runway and construction of an adequate cargo terminal would enable the expansion of cargo traffic. In 2002, DHL started daily express cargo flights to Vaasa since the company is expecting growing economy in the area and thus increasing demand for express cargo. New business park (Vaasa Airport Park) is being developed in the vicinity of the airport. Road connections to the airport are being improved in order to increase attractiveness of the area. The town plan also includes an area reservation for a possible regional logistics centre to be located in the area. Vaasa port, airport and the highway Vaasa Tampere Helsinki belong to TEN-network. The same status is attempted to be achieved for the Oulu Vaasa Turku highway and the ferry link between Vaasa and Umeå. The sea link connects the present TEN roads on both sides of the gulf and would therefore form a natural part of the TEN network. The Vaskiluoto Island in Vaasa accommodates the seaport and some land transport terminals. The main bridge from the island leads to the very centre of the town. Therefore, there is frequent through traffic of heavy goods vehicles in the centre causing nuisance to other traffic and the residents in the area. The heavy traffic volumes between Vaskiluoto and the centre amounts to even 1,000 vehicles per day. Goods traffic is estimated to account approximately 10% of the town s total traffic volumes. The streets with the highest volumes of heavy traffic are illustrated in Figure 13 According to the earlier goods transport study, 250 trucks and vans deliver goods to Vaasa s town centre every workday. 40% of the deliveries take place 7-10 am. Approximately half of the deliveries take place at Teräksenkatu, which is partly reserved for maintenance traffic and therefore deliveries do not harm other traffic. The total distribution traffic (in km) per line of business in Vaasa is indicated in Table 27. Deliveries per day are estimated using the Dutch CROW-model and more comprehensive studies 74

75 FINAL REPORT cityfreight made in other Finnish towns. 31 In the beginning of year 2000, the number of registered goods vehicles in Vaasa was 453 trucks and 2,086 vans 32. Table 27: Goods transportation in Vaasa (calculated on the basis of the number of companies) Line of business Number of companies Average km Deliveries / workday trucks Deliveries / workday vans Km by trucks / workday Km by vans / workday Km in total / workday Industry ,544 3,840 16,384 Wholesale ,232 7,140 22,372 Perishable ,060 1,275 4,335 stores Other retail ,165 2,598 stores Hotel and catering In total 31,424 15,195 46,619 Driving 10% 3,142 1,520 4,662 empty In total 34,566 16,715 51,281 Assumptions: The average number of deliveries generated by each line of business is the same as it was in the studies conducted in town of Jyväskylä and Lahti The average distance between the unloading points is 5 km Vehicles run empty 10 % of the total km driven Vehicle drive daily 45 km Source: Regional Council of Ostrobothnia Finnish Road Administration (1999) Land use and transport infrastructure The Vaasa centre with department stores, shopping centres, restaurants, office buildings and specialty stores draws the majority of local distribution flows. Within the centre area, the most of the retail activities is concentrated in the blocks next to the market square. Another important concentration of retail business has emerged in Kivihaka, where some hypermarkets are already located and plans for more stores are underway. In addition there are supermarkets distributed rather evenly in the town area. Like in other towns in Finland, the number of retail stores diminished in aftermath of the recession in the beginning of 1990s. By the end of the decade, the total number of stores started to grow again. Perishable stores and kiosks have become fewer and specialty stores greater in number. 33 Most of Vaasa s nearly 20 industrial districts form a belt in south-north direction following the railway. Due to the direct connections from highways to industrial districts, the nuisance caused to residential areas is rather minimal. Traffic to/from the Vaskiluoto Island, on the contrary, causes more problems, since the traffic is obliged to go through the town centre. Alternative route is mainly used by traffic heading or arriving from south. The Vaskiluoto Island accommodates the port and land transport terminals (some of them serving only land transport). Other sites with goods terminals are Liisanlehto and Vikby in Mustasaari. Vaasa s land use, industrial districts, transport infrastructure, and streets with highest heavy traffic volumes are illustrated in Figure 13. As it was mentioned, the area by the airport will be developed into a business park. There have also been preliminary discussions about a possibility to have a railway connection to the airport. The realization 31 Regional Council of Ostrobothnia Vaasa Road District (1999) 32 Town of Vaasa, Technical Department (2000) 33 Town of Vaasa (1999) 75

76 cityfreight FINAL REPORT of this vision is unlikely to happen in the near future, but there will be an area reserved for the connection in the master plan. Figure 13: Heavy traffic volumes in the Vasaa city centre in 1997 (matrex Oy) Public policies and strategies The Vaasa town program is a policy document that aims to integrate the plans expressed in the Vaasa regional development plan, the Vaasa regional structure plan (VASU), and the Vaasa Region s Traffic System Plan (VASELI). Further, the program aims to enhance sustainability, attractiveness of the environment, availability of services and readiness to meet the challenges of the future. The strategic projects supported by the program are often carried out within the framework of the abovementioned plans. The projects deal with issues such as: 1. Internationalisation of Western Finland (development of international and national information networks, terminal and logistics networks, sea transport across the Gulf of Finland, port activities) 2. Networks of regional structure and functions, interaction between towns and rural areas (balance in regional structure, economic stability, networking among different actors, investments in infrastructure supporting existing resources, improve traffic network) 3. Pluralistic and attractive environment (sustainable development, development of town centres). 76

77 FINAL REPORT cityfreight The projects have a regional focus, since the town and the rural areas need to be developed as an entity and the resources of the whole region need to be exploited to safeguard the competitiveness. The latest development program of the Vaasa region was drawn up in The major development goals of the program concern the strengthening the international role of the region that will be founded on good international relationships, co-operation and international transport connections (ferry, air and rail traffic, communications). 34 As already mentioned in the Introduction chapter, the Traffic System Plan for the Vaasa Region is one of the main strategies having impact on the distribution traffic. The final report of VASELI 2030 presents a program for developing the regional traffic systems. Those parts of the program that are relevant to distribution (directly or indirectly) are highlighted in Table 28. The main objectives for the goods traffic concern establishing a new goods terminal area and improving goods and service traffic in the town centre. 35 The goals of the regional centre program are for example the development of the regional business and industrial policies, education and research, regional image and business parks (Vaasa Science park, Strömberg Park and Vaasa Aiport Park) Town of Vaasa et al. (2001) 35 Regional Council of Ostrobothnia Vaasa Road District (1999) 36 Town of Vaasa et al. (2001) 77

78 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Table 28: Extracts from VASELI 2030 development program Objectives of the Traffic System: Creation of adequate preconditions for more cost-efficient goods transports New goods terminal Service and distribution traffic arrangements in Vaasa centre Supporting regional structure and sustainable development Supporting the role of Vaasa as a regional engine of growth (extension of Vaasa connecting road, inclusion of Oulu Vaasa Turku highway and Vaasa Umeå ferry link to TEN network) Diminishing the negative impacts of traffic (planning of pedestrian centre in Vaasa, electrification of Vaasa - Tampere rail track) Ensuring connections needed by business sector Enabling of goods transports (continuity of Vaasa Umeå ferry link) Improvement of regional competitiveness and image (development of road network and approach roads, new goods terminals, expansion of airport terminal, development of distribution traffic in Vaasa centre) Improvement of traffic safety Diminishing accidents with personal injuries (co-ordination of land use and traffic planning, realization of traffic safety plan, revising speed limits) National and international connections Development of connections utilised by residents, business sector and authorities (development of high ways, continuity of ferry traffic, electrification of Vaasa Tampere rail track, development of the airport: construction of air cargo terminal) The pivotal projects to be realised by year 2005: Continuity of the ferry link Electrification of Vaasa Tampere rail track Vaasa pedestrian centre Inclusion of a possible goods terminal area to town zoning Development plan for air cargo traffic Urban freight distribution problems Encountered problems in Vaasa s distribution and other goods transportation traffic were surveyed in the regional goods transport study from Many of those problems (such as parking and stopping in the town centre and traffic from the port through the centre) are still topical and were often mentioned also in the interviews that were carried out for the City Freight project. One of the most topical questions concerns planning the goods and maintenance traffic for the pedestrian street area, whose construction work is expected to be ready by year

79 FINAL REPORT cityfreight 3.5. Strasbourg Introduction We selected the CUS ("Urban Community of STRASBOURG") as project city case for the following characteristics: The local authorities are motivated and very aware that the urban freight transportation is a significant component to take into account in the global transportation and urban development of their community. They are involved since the beginning in the PDU scheme and development methodology. They are currently faced in front of decisive choice concerning the transportation organisation, and this not only for the city but also for the region. The city structure involves many typical areas and site characteristics that we can find in many other urban zones and the results coming from the studies done on it has reasonable capacities to be transportable to other agglomeration (historical area, heavy city centre, peripheral specifics zones for industry, business or habitation). Possibility to use road, rail and inland waterways. Near less to Germany and needs to work and study the problem in taking into account the reality of other community behaviours and needs. Lack of knowledge on the city freight and studies currently done to give answers to this problem. Innovative project already done and a new one currently under first study phase. Identification of real pollution problems linked to the geographical location of the city Basic information on the city A. General data The CUS includes 27 towns or districts with large influence to and from Germany in spite of the natural well-marked RHIN frontier (Figure 14) In 1990 there was 423,500 inhabitants (16 % increase from 1968) and 211,500 employments (26 % increase from 1968) on this territory. Population density (1,371 inh/km 2 ), employment density (684 emp/km 2 ). 79

80 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Figure 14: Urban Community of Strasbourg PDU CUS 80

81 FINAL REPORT cityfreight B. CUS structure The Centre (old town): very dense. The intermediate space (recent town): relatively dense and with all the town centre characteristics. The suburb : A third crown that mixes relatively old suburbs (relatively dense) and industrials activity situated along the transportations axes (railways). A new expansion area on the axe North/South (RHIN east limitation, Krochersberg agricultural zone North/West limitation). Mix of old villages, housing estate, residential blocks, Shopping centre and industrials or logistics sites. C. Trading activities repartition A very active town centre (25 % of the CUS shopping surface area). Some district activities. Large shopping centres. All are situated along the main road axes in the STRASBOURG periphery D. Activities location The industry: Two mains north axes and one area in the south: A lane at the North of the port area and another one easily accessible crossed by the highway and near a large SNCF maintenance site in the north. A very large area in the south. The service activity: Mainly localised in the central zones More than 70% of service activity employment is in the town centre, compared to the 48% for industrial employment. E. Displacements characteristics 3/4 of the displacements using mechanical devices (990,000 movements per day in 1988) are done by private cars (95 private cars per 100 families). Public transportation represents 11 % and two-wheedled vehicles 15%. It is currently estimated that nearly on million mechanised movements have their starting point or ending point in the CUS zone. The truck traffic. STRASBOURG is at a crossroad off major traffic axes. These axes have a common point in the city zone and they participate to long distance freight stream. On the most loaded section (155,440 vehicle/days) the trucks represent 6%, including 2,900 in transit. The main truck transportation axels of the agglomeration are one north/south- major axe (Highway A4, A35, and National Road 83) with 6,500 to 10,000 trucks by day and another one east/west with 3,000 to 6,000 trucks by day. Concerning trucks in the city, we notice the existence of a bypass (loop line) for dangerous goods traffic and time restriction for truck circulating and parking (no access from to 6.00 for goods delivery, 81

82 cityfreight FINAL REPORT no access for heavy trucks, more than 19 tonnes (derogation is possible), no access for trucks over 6 tonnes from to 19.00) Overviews on goods transport flows The main truck transport flow generators "La plaine de bouchers": 9,000 employments on 146 ha with 11 companies with more than 100 employments. This site has no real good specificities and it is currently difficult to give a real idea off the type and characteristics off the transported goods. A recent enquiry give a flow of 1,128 heavy trucks by day in the main site street (approximately 2 to 2.5 million tonnes/year) The "Cronenbourg" goods station: At the northwest of the centre this station is above all a freight transfer site and a railroad platform (250 to 300 movements by days by heavy load vehicles). We will speak again upon this site later in the document with a STRASBOURG innovative starting project. The petroleum harbour: Dedicated area to petroleum products transportation and stocking. About 2,450 trucks by day with only one service route and the submission to specifics rules for dangerous products transport in city. The RHIN harbour (EUROFRET): 15,000 employments mainly in logistic and transport activities. The flow are evaluated at 14.5 millions tonnes by year and 2,400 trucks by day in the north of the site and 6,000 trucks by day in the south. The other points: 65 craft & industry areas generating 100 trucks by day, and 3 large shopping centre ("Hautepierre" 30 ha 1,630 employments, "Vendenheim" 38 ha 1,600 employments, "La Vigie" 33 ha 1,300 employments) generating also a lot of traffic Public policies and strategies The CUS has four main goals: To encourage the commercial and economical development by giving opportunities to make easier the displacements in the city. To find new land spaces and territories for the urban development, To renovate the environment, To improve and diversify the STRASBOURG image by giving to a majority off users the best displacements capacities they need. To reach these goals the CUS wants to control and organize all the parameters involved in the characterisation of the city transportation activities. The challenge is to strictly coordinate the transport and displacement policy and the urban development through an adapted land use policy. To reach such objectives, urban sprawl must be under control and urban wasteland must be reconquered and rehabilitated. Currently the authorities has two mains working axes: First: take the initials and "supposed" easily controllable actions. 82

83 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Second: understand and increase the knowledge of all the parameters that have an influence on the given problem and particularly the freight traffic and the delivery characteristics Urban freight distribution problems After we meet the STRASBOURG responsible for the transportation in the CUS, we can conclude that if all the major problems currently talked about for STRASBOURG are nearly the same than those encountered in all the other big towns in France (policies and regulation, environmental aspects, conflicting interest, traffic jams and park organisation, etc.) the first action that the authorities have to do is to obtain the data allowing to correctly take into account all the parameters and their links before defining a correct strategy to treat the problem (identification and characterisation of the problems). So, the STASBOURG authorities are currently working on two projects. "Diagnostic study on the transport and the goods distribution in the CUS". The study objectives are to bring the necessary urban freight distribution knowledge and to give recommendations and orientations in order to correctly address the problem with different time milestones. The project is currently in the commercial and technical proposals step by subcontractors and the STRASBOURG authorities are awaiting results for the end of 2002/beginning off "Study and realisation of an urban distribution of freight coming by rail with reduced pollution in STRASBOURG agglomeration". The aim of this project is to study and propose innovative answers to update the current STRASBOURG railways platform. The first results are awaited for the beginning of La Rochelle Introduction The CAR (La communauté d agglomération de La Rochelle -"Urban community of La Rochelle ") has been chosen as a city case study because: The local authorities are highly motivated and have been very active for a long time in activities concerning the public and freight urban transportations, the environment concerns and more widely on the new ways on thinking the urban development. Many innovative projects have been already conducted, or currently under development or in preliminary study steps. The city and its history is marked by the sea. So, there is a large sea freight activity and a wide harbour area highly involved in the CAR freight transport development and evolution. Due to this particularity we will find many concerns about inter-urban and inter-modal characteristics. The city authorities have decided (political decision) to develop a strategy around electric energies application for transport (waste collection with electric driven trucks, goods delivery in the historic city centre by a dedicated fleet of electric vehicles, electric car renting, etc). 83

84 cityfreight FINAL REPORT As for Strasbourg we have a city structure that involves many types of area, from specific to more standard ones, and we can expect a good portability level for our study results Basic information on the city A. General data The CAR consists of 18 cities with 140,000 inhabitants of which 80,000 live in the city of La Rochelle itself. From the last 40 years La Rochelle grows over the countryside and the villages all round. The La Rochelle population increases more than 50 %, but during the same time the part of the population living in the town itself decrease from 75 % to 50 %. The urban surface area (and not the global CAR surface areas) is evaluated at 540 km 2, so we can evaluate the average population density to 259 Inhabitants/ km % of the 53,520 CAR employments are located in four districts (La Rochelle 67 %, Périgny 7 %, Aytré 7 % and Puilboreau less than 4 %). In La Rochelle 41 % of the employments are located in the centre and near to 11 % in only three other areas. B. CAR structure The La Rochelle urban community can be represented by the La Rochelle town itself and four crowns (Table 29). The following table give the comparative evolution of the built up and the activities areas from 1959 to 1995 in each part of the CAR. Table 29: Comparative built up and activity surfaces increases Accommodation surface increase Activity surface increase % La Rochelle (Town) 476 ha 138 ha 29 % CAR - PDU 1 st Crown 826 ha 290 ha 35 % 2 nd Crown 446 ha 47 ha 11 % 3 rd Crown 425 ha 45 ha 11 % 4 th Crown 127 ha 2 ha 1.5 % This table shows and explains the displacements increase motivated by the equipment, activity and shopping area frequentation that remain concentrate in the town centre or in the close periphery while the inhabitants goes away from the old historical centre to new countryside newly urbanised places. 84

85 FINAL REPORT cityfreight C. General traffic structure The Figure 15 shows the traffic average in 1998 and an evolution of this traffic (the values are given in vehicles/day and the data we have doesn't make the difference between public transportation or freight activities). Figure 15: Evolution of the average traffic ( ) These figures clearly show that without new policies of the road management, urban development and car restrictive use La Rochelle will go to an overloading of these displacement capacities and reach the saturation on several points. An other point to notice and that it is not showed in these diagram is that La Rochelle and the surrounding region attract a lot off tourists and even if the "normal" traffic slowly decrease in July and August, these decrease is highly, or even more, compensated by the growing population and activities linked to the tourism. 85

86 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Overviews on goods transport flows A. The La Pallice Harbour The traffic generated by this harbour increase near 5% by year: 10 to 15 % of the goods are transported by the rail (with 1,200,000 tonnes (1998) the harbour is the main provider for the rail. To day the traffic is from 4/5 trains/day to 8/10 trains/day) The others 85 to 90 % are transported by road. The truck traffic directly linked to the harbour activity is estimated near to 1,000 vehicle/day. So the main roads of La Rochelle have to support important truck traffic (9 to 14 % of the average yearly global traffic). The worst case is represented by the south axe (national Road 137) with 4,900 trucks movements by years. An estimation of the lorry traffic in 1997 is given Figure 16). Figure 16: Lorry traffic in 1997 There are three main types of traffic activities: petroleum products: 95 % of the transportation is done by road. cereals: currently 7,000,000 tonnes by rail on a total of 2,500,000 tonnes. others products (mainly building materials): The current carrier behaviours are to work by "batch". This solution leads to an increase of truck movements. 86

87 FINAL REPORT cityfreight We have to notice that Short Sea Shipping development is also an increasing factor of traffic, especially in the sea/land interface area (urban zone). This impacts mainly road traffic that is continuously growing up Public policies and strategies Currently the CAR work according to main axes given in the PDU agreed in October a. The urban freight. It is proposed to harmonise the municipal laws dedicated to the urban freight, as deposit/delivery, timetable, truck traffic, car park) and to progressively increase the space and the area dedicated to the deliveries in coordination with a progressive decrease of the car park aerial surface. As studies are showed that 95 % of the parcels transported in the city centre have less than one meter (in each side) it is currently developed a new delivery service based on a central platform and the use of electric cars for the last meters. b. The commercial freight harbour. The rail traffic is regularly growing during the last years, and according to the new "hinterland" project scheduled by the civil authorities, it seems necessary to think to an increase and an optimisation of the rail capacities. This, and the natural container traffic growing, can be a major asset for the development of a "ferroutage" regional strategy. According to the data we can extract from the regional and local authorities documents it seems that there are currently some large discussions open on a very large project involving the harbour development and the definition and the realisation of new railway facilities Urban freight distribution problems La Rochelle is a "border city" placed in a mainland extremity. So, the intermediate platforms are situated in next cities (Poitiers, Niort, etc.) and logically all the carriers put in a same truck all the product that had to come to the city for a same day. The La Rochelle centre is an old historical town with some specificities, as: narrows streets that was never designed for car or trucks, many pillars, arcades and archways that are obstacles to the traffic. The noise and the pollution and the air quality is for a long time a main concern for the La Rochelle authorities that are one of the first French city to be equipped in the year 1970 with a specific air quality measurement system. As the other city that tries to be active on this point the CAR is faced to legal and administrative problem. Most of them are linked to a clear and agreed by all parties (included the national, regional and local law and decree) definition of the limit of furniture, the right and duty off all the involved actors in the freight activity. 87

88 cityfreight FINAL REPORT 3.7. Milan Introduction Milan is the economic centre of Lombardy and Italy, and is the leading Italian province in terms of Added Value per capita ( 26,605). After the Second World War, the city assumed the role of fulcrum of the North, becoming the main exchange node for freight and people flows on all North-South, East-West, national and international routes. City mobility is intense due to the high number of people that travel in daily for work, study, or tourism, thus, doubling the number of inhabitants during working hours. Figure 17: Map of Milan Basic information on the city The Lombardy Region extends over a surface area of about 24,000 square kilometres, mostly mountainous (40.5%), and is Italy s fourth-largest region. Notwithstanding this, the Region features a high density of human settlements (328 inhabitants./sq. km) and production units (31 companies/sq. km.), roughly twice the national average. From an economic viewpoint, Lombardy maintains its industrial characteristics, but has progressively become oriented towards the service sector. At the end of 2000, the Region had 738,103 active companies (15.2% of the national total), staffed by 2,969,412 employees. Manufacturing activities are concentrated mainly in the industrial districts and number 129,478 firms employing close to 43% of workers in Lombardy, corresponding to 1,272,414 employees (source: Infocamere 2000). Milan Province numbers 3,773,893 inhabitants (31/12/2000), which makes it the second most-populated province after Rome. Average settlement density is 1,904 inh/sq. km.; 96% of the territory is flat. The age composition of the population features a prevalence of individuals between the ages of 15 and 64, that is in working age. The average 88

89 FINAL REPORT cityfreight income per capita, calculated in 1998, was 18,216,98, higher than both the regional average ( 16,243.00) and the national average ( 13,053.80). The entrepreneurial fabric is made up of 311,048 companies, mainly focused on trading activities (87,011 companies) and services (93,519), especially advanced business services -- from credit and finance to professional training. The number of employees is equal to 1,367,582, of which 293,218 in the trading sector and close to 350,000 in services. The business density per 100 inhabitants is 10.7, little more than the national average; general manufacturing activities employ roughly 500,000 workers in 51,881 companies. Milan Province contributes the most to the national added value: just over 10% ( 972,163 billion, Infocamere 1999). The sector making the largest contribution is services with 10.3% ( 70,097 billion versus 665,837 billion of the Italian datum). Industry generated added value amounting to 29,483 billion, 10.74% of the national total ( 274,522 billion). For what concerns foreign trade, Milanese companies are more highly disposed to the export trade than the Italian average (29.4% against 22.2%). The overall value of the export trade was 35,232 billion in The goods exported mainly comprise pharmaceutical and mechanical products. Client countries are within the EU, above all Germany, followed by Switzerland and Turkey. In terms of imports ( 67,086 billion), the goods that rank foremost are TV sets and communications equipment, office machinery and motor vehicles; the countries of origin are, once again, within the EU. The infrastructures general index has a value of 159.8, which is higher than the average figure for Lombardy (120.3); the Province is especially well-equipped with telephone, computer, and energy structures. For what concerns transport, it excels in terms of airports (162.4), thanks to the presence of three -- two of which, Orio al Serio and Malpensa, are located within the Province s orbit. The road and railway networks feature an index that is not far off the average datum for Lombardy (78.8 roads, 86.1 railways). Companies operating in the field of transportation, storage, and communications number 16,570 and have 79,773 employees. 24% of the firms are partnerships employing 6% of the workers. Transport vehicles registered with the P.R.A. at 31/12/2000 numbered 193,727, of which 89% were trucks; most carrying loads of less than 3,500 kilograms Milan city extends over a flat surface area of sq. km., in which recorded residents amount to 1,182,693, with a density of 6,495.8 inh/sq. km. Data taken from the Companies Register confirm the Milanese businessmen s orientation to services and advanced third-party activities: 43,867 companies operate in the real estate and information systems sectors, and 39,641 in the field of wholesale and retail trade. A significant number of companies also operate in manufacturing (19,884). According to the CIIS of 1996, the number of employees amounted to 793,788; specifically, 218,257 in manufacturing, 161,591 in real estate, 142,458 in wholesale and retail, and lastly 46,138 employees in transportation and storage. Companies operating in the transportation and storage sectors numbered 7,284. The vehicles registered in Milan city in 2000 totalled 15,759, split as follows: 14,035 freight transport trucks, 833 semi-trailers, and 891 road-tractors. The vehicle park amounted to 70,993 units, 65,492 of which were freight trucks. 89

90 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Overview of goods transport flows Most of the goods arriving in Milan can be assumed to be transiting the city, given its favourable position for communications and trade, as well as the presence of large national and international throughways. Indeed, Milan is the final destination for almost all of Italy s motorways, in addition to numerous road and rail routes. Lombardy sees more than 300 million tonnes of goods arrive by road and about 7 million tonnes by rail; to which need to be summed all the goods transiting the East-West and North-South routes. 80% stops off at the Milan hubs prior to distribution across the rest of Lombardy, other Italian areas, and Europe. A. Goods Traffic The data contained in this paragraph and the Annexes, refer to a study conducted by Polytechnic University of Milan, aimed at identifying the flows and characteristics of road traffic in Milan, with a particular focus on the transportation of goods. The study calls for the location of tracking sections on the road grid, corresponding to 61 sections of road positioned radially to the centre of Milan, and the successive identification of three ideal lines of concentric cordon: the first corresponds to the Motorway Barriers ; the second is formed by the sections situated in proximity to the bypass road system ( External Cordon ); while the third corresponds to the road-trolley bus circle ( Internal Cordon ). A total of eight motorway sections, 39 External Cordon sections, and 15 sections situated just inside the road-trolley bus ring road were identified. An initial analysis reveals that goods traffic inbound from the motorway barriers accounts for 20.55% of total Milan-bound traffic. Vehicles transiting the external ring, however, accounted for about 12% of both Milan-bound traffic and traffic bound for the outskirts. Lastly, the same dynamic was ascertained for goods traffic within the internal ring, which accounted for 8.31% in the first case, and 8.30% in the second The study continues with sample road interviews aimed at defining the distribution of goods traffic for areas paired into Origin-Destination. Taking the tracking section as the origination point enabled us to reconstruct the flow of goods, having previously established the destination area; similarly, taking the section as the destination area enables us to reconstruct the mobility driver between the areas of origin. The study shows that Milan-bound goods vehicle traffic at the motorway barriers was made up of: 22.5% (12,472 vehicles) effectively bound for the city of Milan; 28.7% (15,882 vehicles) was destined for the hinterland, made up of the 38 municipalities closest to that of Milan; 48.8% (26,930 vehicles) transits the main traffic routes, the motorway barriers, and areas outside the scope of the study; however, we point out that two-thirds of these vehicles were headed for other motorway barriers, in some way bypassing 90

91 FINAL REPORT cityfreight the metropolitan area and thus moving along the motorway routes. This means that only one-third of this traffic transits the centre of Milan. The most frequent type of vehicle at the motorway barriers is trucks (43%), although there is no lack of articulate trucks and trailers (28%). These latter tend to weight less the closer they move to the city centre, where, on the other hand, vans account for 73%. In terms of vehicle flows at the external ring, we underscore that 21% of traffic was headed for the centre of Milan and a good 54% for the area comprising the historical centre and the Bastioni (ancient walls) circle. While the opposite is true in the case of vehicle traffic originating in the centre and headed for sections of the external ring, where the percentage is 19%, and reaches 50% when taking as the area of origin that up to the Bastioni circle In conclusion, the daily distribution of traffic flows in both directions is essentially balanced. On the other hand, an analysis of the daily two-way traffic flows at the internal ring, reveals a strong concentration of goods vehicles in Milan centre (58%) and in the area up to the Bastioni ring. Solely 10% of traffic is headed for the Milan hinterland. Transiting traffic accounts for about 10% of total traffic. The supply of transportation bound for the historical centre is made up of operational vehicles (craftspeople, plumbers, electricians, etc.), while at the barriers, 43% of traffic is made up of wholesale and industrial freight transportation; couriers were equally distributed across the three areas covered by the study Land use and transport infrastructure Milan Province is one of the most densely populated areas and has the highest concentration of manufacturing activities, which has given rise to a complex and articulated transport network. Rail transport: the railway network is driven prevalently by electrical traction and accounts for 16% of the regional total entrusted to the Ferrovie Nord Milano (FNM) North Milan Railways. The Milan area does not have an interport, but nine intermodal hubs, six of which in rail areas (Greco Pirelli, Certosa, Porta Romana, Rogoredo, two at Milano Smistamento), and three in privately owned areas (Certosa, Pioltello, and Rho), all of which are equipped with rail terminals; moreover, there are another four intermodal hubs not far from the Milan area (Vittuone, Arluno, Melzio, and Desio). Half of the moving freight destined or originating in Milan transits these hubs, although, compared with the total volume of freight transported across the metropolitan area, that percentage is modest. The road system is characterised by its complex articulation and the strong state of congestion on the main routes. The road grid is made up of: Motorways and ring roads of Milan: cover km and are managed by various private companies; National roads: km managed by ANAS; Provincial roads: 1,045 km under the responsibility of the Provincia di Milano; City roads: about 900 km, managed by the provincial municipalities. 91

92 cityfreight FINAL REPORT The airport system centres on two hubs: Milan Linate and Milan Malpensa. The latest data from the Ministry for Infrastructures and Transport (for the year 2000) shows that traffic is intensifying at the Malpensa hub, with 300,162 tonnes of freight in arrival and departure (40.22% of the national total), of which, international freight accounts for a good 97.60% and national freight for solely 2.40%. The hub is situated in an area between Busto Arsizio, Gallarate, and the Ticino River, 48 km from Milan city centre. Special attention has been placed on freight transportation, with the new Cargo City hub -- the construction of which is in progress equipped with an aircraft parking bay and independent road and rail access. The hub of Linate is Italy s fourth-largest airport in terms of freight movements with 18,108 tonnes (2.43% of the national total), marking a loss of 46.50% compared with the year earlier. That contraction is mainly due to the higher operational level of Malpensa airport. The percentage breakdown works out to 42.43% national traffic and 57.57% international traffic Public policies and strategies Over the past few years, Italy s Local Administrations have heightened their focus on the problem of urban goods distribution, driven by both the sensitivity of the population to environmental problems (noise and environmental pollution, etc.) and the increase in the demand for more efficient transport systems supported by the interested parties (traders, transport companies, freight associations, and the like). That situation has led the City of Milan to recently implement a number of vetoes and restrictions aimed at reducing urban congestion and pollution, in particular, that caused by benzene and PM10 (micro-particles). The first restrictions were imposed in November 2001 and concern on one side the transit of vehicles longer than seven metres within the Navigli ring, and on the other side the transit and parking in the area between the Navigli and the Bastioni ring. Successively, on 28 February 2002, the City of Milan imposed a no-entry and no-parking ban from 07:30h to 21:00h on TIRs in the residential areas of the city. The latest order regulates starting 24 March the loading and unloading of goods in the area inside the Bastioni ring, restricting such activities to between 10:30h and 14:00h and between 19:00h to 07:30h of the following day. Currently under discussion is the possibility of introducing an entry ticket to the area within the Bastioni ring. A toll that, if implemented, aims to reduce the introduction of vehicles by 15% at peak times, but which, on the other hand, could lead to a reduction in business volumes for offices and commercial centres. In addition, the study proposes medium to long-term interventions of an infrastructure and organisational-functional nature. We assume that the first of these will consist of: the possibility of strengthening the logistics platforms (interports and intermodal hubs); the physical separation, where possible, of commercial traffic from private traffic; the construction of parking areas for the exclusive use of goods vehicles. Among the organisational provisions, we point out the predisposition of parking bays for loading/unloading, distribution during night hours where such actions do not disturb residents and, finally, the adoption of new technologies. 92

93 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Urban freight distribution problems The City of Milan s concern about the transportation of goods in the urban area is attested to by its commissioning of the Milan Polytechnic to carry out a study of the problem, in addition to the enacting and enforcing of specific traffic regulations. The government has given the Mayor special powers to implement the provisions needed, also in departure from the current law in force. An example of these powers is the order regulating the time bands in which goods can be delivered to the city s historical centre. According to the hauliers, traffic congestion in the city centre is a significant problem: to address it, the possibility of making deliveries in the evening and during off-peak hours is considered a valid solution, also because it will reduce operating costs and thus increase the profitability of the fleet. Further, the hauliers themselves have expressed interest in the possibility of using associations/co-operatives in order to resolve the current poor conditions, caused also by an excessively fragmented supply market; moreover, the transportation companies believe that the access and parking difficulties encountered in the city are a symptom of the lack of adequate and dedicated parking areas, leading to traffic congestion problems and interference between commercial and private traffic. The large transportation and logistics companies, however, are not particularly concerned with these issues: in fact, these say that they often rely on pony express messenger services for city deliveries and do not suffer overmuch from traffic jams and the ZTL (limited traffic zones), which require individual permits for each vehicle, day, and place of delivery. The sole problem highlighted by the larger companies is the risk of being fined when drivers are forced to park in no-parking areas. On the other hand, the commercial operators are subject to frequent goods deliveries for re-stocking purposes, especially during morning hours. The small retail outlets and the medium to large-sized commercial structures point out that they would not be interested in local area platforms because, in their opinion, these would run the risk of further fragmenting deliveries, resulting in an increase in the number of vehicles in circulation. In addition, these merchants do not believe it necessary to stipulate agreements between the transportation companies, given their relationships of trust with the individual operators. 93

94 cityfreight FINAL REPORT 3.8. Vicenza Introduction The city of Vicenza, unlike Milan and Genoa, is an example of a multi-centre metropolis, in which all the provinces contribute in almost the same way to the formation of the Region s main economic results. Figure 18: Map of Vicenza Basic information on the city The Veneto Region is one of the most industrialised regions of North-east Italy, and over the past few years, has seen the population grow, especially due to immigration. The Region is home to 493,634 companies, of which 78,030 are industrial, and 112,283 operate in the wholesale and retail trade (Infocamere 2000). Total employees amount to 1,940,340; of which, 810,497 are employed in industry. In 2000, the value of imports was 27,968 billion, mainly from countries in the European Union ( 20,371 billion). The sector with the highest import volumes was manufacturing, which spent 21,816 billion (80%). Exports recorded a value of 36,685 billion; Community countries purchased goods from Veneto amounting to 25,434 billion. The manufacturing sector provides nearly the totality of the products exported ( 36,112 billion). The Province of Vicenza extends over a surface area of 2,722 sq. km. and its total population of 788,374 has narrowed by 60,000 inhabitants compared with An analysis of the population by age band underscores an increase in people of over 65 years of age. 94

95 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Income per capita in 1998 was higher than the national data and the average for Veneto: Vicenza citizen s recorded an average of 14, against 14, in Veneto and 13, in Italy. The production structure is made up of medium-small companies, who are extremely attentive in terms of production management, but rather immature on the financial side. Traditional sectors are textiles, tanning, apparel, ceramics, and furniture. Vicenza hosts a Jewellery trade fair of international importance, which brings together operators from all over the world. There are 81,638 companies (16.8% of the Veneto total), mostly active in trade 18,167 and industry 16,820 (Infocamere 2000). The density of entrepreneurs per 100 inhabitants is 10.3 and the weighting of sole-trader businesses amounts to 57.8% of the provincial total. Employees numbered 351,445 (18% of the whole of Veneto); distribution among the various sectors of activity shows a prevalence of industry, with 178,248 employees in 2000, followed by the service sector, with 161,324. Added Value in 1999 was equal to 16,722,969,420 and contributed 3.67% to the formation of the national added value factor. The sector that contributed most was services, with 53.7% of the Province s AV ( 8,985 billion), while industry recorded a result equal to 7256 billion. In 2000, Vicenza ranked the third Italian province in terms of export value, with 6,667 billion, and first in terms of rate of aperture (84.7%). The panorama of exported products varies; jewellery, apparel, mechanical, and chemical products. The destination countries are mainly European, followed by the Americas. Among the most imported goods are leather and meat products. Europe, South Africa, the United States and China, are among the first countries in which imported goods originate. From the viewpoint of infrastructures, the Province of Vicenza comes fifth in the regional context: it has a good road system (110.8, Italy = 100), while the commissioning of the railway system is rather scarce (47.6). Another issue to underscore is that the Province does not have an airport. Companies operating in the transportation, storage, and communications sectors number 2,402, with 6,655 employees; 77% are represented by sole-trader businesses, with 41% of total employees in the sector. At 31/12/2000, the vehicle park consisted of 54,571 goods vehicles, 89% of which had loads weighing less than 35 tonnes. Vicenza city extends over a flat surface area of sq. km., while the population amounts to 106,069 inhabitants. Manufacturing activities are conducted by a total of 1,682 companies; the main concerns operate in the production and working of metal, apparel, and furniture construction. An equally high number of companies operate in the wholesale and retail trade sectors (respectively 1,455 and 1,166), followed by construction (950 companies). Employees in the city number 45,759, of which 11,613 in industry, 9,116 in trade, and about 1,800 in goods and passenger transportation (Infocamere 2000). Companies operating in the overland transportation business number 267, while the goods vehicle park has the capacity for 5,422 vehicles. 95

96 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Overview of goods transport flows Vicenza is an important industrial area, specialising in the gold industry. Like most other industrial areas, only a small part of production remains in the home markets, while more than 90% is sold abroad; indeed, data for 2000 shows a 4.5% increase in export trends. This product has a high added-value factor, but the quantities moved within the flow of goods transported over Vicenza s road network are marginal compared with total production and do not have a direct impact on the city s roads. This flow suffers from traffic that runs along the East-West route and that generated by the bordering municipalities. In terms of internal distribution, a survey effected close to the cordon of the city of Vicenza (17 road sections on the city border) indicates that: between 07:00h and 09:00h, 2,283 vehicles enter the city, 1,593 of which have Vicenza as their final destination. Between 6% and 8% heads for the historical centre and 24% for the Industrial Zone. The vehicle breakdown shows that 17% belong to freight forwarders and couriers, while 83% is used to distribute the goods; between 17:00h and 19:00h, 1,068 vehicles heading directly for the city and 366 in transit were counted. 21% of the total belong to freight forwarders and couriers, while 79% of these vehicles is used to distribute goods. A breakdown of the Vicenza-bound goods traffic is summarised in the two tables following, one for each time band. Between 07:00h and 09:00h, more than 80% of the vehicles belong to distributors who make regular deliveries to Vicenza. Most of these do not schedule deliveries according to the days of the week (21.86%), while others deliver prevalently on Tuesday (17.27%) and Friday (18.71%); only 0.58% deliver on Saturday and there are no Sunday deliveries. Between 17:00h and 19:00h, regular distributors number 973, while a breakdown by weekday shows little change in the percentage from Monday to Friday, solely 0.64% of deliveries is made on Saturday afternoon Land use and transport infrastructure Vicenza is an important rail and road junction on the Milan-Venice communications axis. The road network extends across: 2,663 km of city roads; 3,891 km of intercity roads; 1,665 km of local roads. The Province is crossed by the A31 Valdastico and A4 Serenissima motorways. Vicenza is on the Milan-Venice railway line. The rail network is well distributed across the whole of the Province, linking the provincial capital with the main municipalities. The rail hub is situated in the central area of the city. 96

97 FINAL REPORT cityfreight The city has an intermodal centre for containerised freight, which extends over a surface area of 45,000 square metres and has parking capacity for 40 containers. To complete the transport system, the city also has a small airport equipped for passenger transportation, which was used by 509 arriving and departing passengers in Other services rely on the airports closest to the city, those of Venice and Verona, both at an equal distance of 60 km Public policies and strategies Goods distribution in the city is regulated and access to historical centre areas are permitted only at certain times: in the morning between 07:00h and 09:00h and in the afternoon between 14:00h and 16:00h. A further distinction is made according to the size and volume of the vehicles used. Indeed, vehicles of 2.5 metres or less with a capacity of 7.5 tonnes or less are allowed to enter the historical centre without restrictions during the permitted hours, while transporters using vehicles of larger dimensions must apply for a special permit indicating not only the time, but also the area in which the vehicle can park for unloading. The city s pedestrian areas can be transited solely in the morning and each vehicle must be granted an individual permit. Loading and unloading also are permitted on Saturday and Sunday during the allotted morning times. There are no time or vehicle restrictions outside the city walls. Special departures exist for the transportation of medical supplies, not subject to restrictions given the characteristics of the goods and their recipients. Among the main inefficiencies of this system, we point out the tendency of the hauliers to ignore the permitted time bands for a number of reasons, such as the urgency of certain deliveries, the waste of time caused by the difficulties of operating in the city centre, etc. In order to bypass these hurdles, as well as to meet the new orientation of the major international and national organisations on the reduction of emissions pollution, the City of Vicenza has launched a number of projects that aim to rationalise the urban goodsdistribution system. The City does not want simply to impose parking and circulation vetoes and restrictions, but identify innovative measures based on maximising the usage capacity of the vehicles in circulation and minimising their number. That goal can be attained by consolidating the deliveries destined for the city s commercial businesses in a hub specially equipped for the collection and sorting of the shipments. As a consequence, Vicenza is building an eco-logistic hub, slated for completion by the end of 2002, where it will reorganise the goods-distribution system in a logistically efficient way, in order to reduce the environmental impact of these activities -- and, as a result, the disturbance caused to residents -- and to ensure sustainable growth. The hub will be constructed outside the city and will serve not only the provincial capital, but also the bordering municipalities and be managed by a mixed public-private company, which will also ask the industry associations to participate. 97

98 cityfreight FINAL REPORT A survey made indicates a potential user basin of 5,238 commercial units, made up mostly of clothing shops, bars, and food services. The consumers who stand to reap the rewards of this new goods-distribution hub are the residents of the whole Province, in particular those who need to travel on a daily basis, as well as seasonal tourist flows. The implementation of a logistics hub will mean revising the current urban distribution system, characterised by a lack of observation of the time bands reserved for the loading and unloading of goods, which causes traffic congestion and disturbances for both operators and trades people. Preliminary research to date indicates that the hub must measure between 6,000 and 7,000, of which 2,000 square metres covered. The interventions envisaged include the purchase of vehicles with low pollution output (powered by LPG, natural gas or electricity) and the equipment needed for moving goods, the adoption of information systems to support the management of flows, the training of hub personnel, and, lastly, structural interventions on the road grid, such as the construction of preferential lanes. The project calls for the use of a 35-strong transportation fleet, made up of vehicles suitable for the type of load and access characteristics of the various areas. In the meantime, the City of Vicenza is implementing a remote control system for access to the Z.T.L. (Limited Time Zone), which favours shorter stays in specific bordering areas and diverts the longer stays to intermodal parking lots linked to the rest of the city by high-frequency shuttle services Urban freight distribution problems The study carried out in the Vicenza area was completed by interviewing several operators involved in goods distribution chain and the local authorities. The questions concerned various aspects, from infrastructure to regulations and from computerised information systems to environmental issues. Operators were asked for their opinion of the current situation and suggestions to identify possible solutions based on their own needs. The problems most underscored by the authorities include traffic congestion in areas of the historical centre and the hours in which the commercial operators receive goods deliveries: in fact, during these hours the traffic flows generated by the residents and the suppliers converge. The authorities further underscored the tendency of the merchants to disregard the time restrictions imposed on accessing the limited traffic zones. In terms of the whole municipal area, excluding the historical centre, no particular traffic problems were highlighted and current traffic regulations are considered satisfactory. Nevertheless, the goods transportation problem in the city area is of particular concern to the local authorities, so much so that it has led to the introduction of urban and land planning, involving both modifications to the current LTZ (limited traffic zone) access system, as well as the introduction of eco-friendly vehicles. For their part, the transportation companies underscore the difficulties of operating in the city centre due to the lack of reserved parking spaces, which often forces them to double 98

99 FINAL REPORT cityfreight park, resulting in traffic congestion and putting at risk other road users. Moreover, the transportation companies believe that the current ZTL regulations do not take into account the peculiarities of some of the goods, which need to be delivered or collected at all hours of the day Lastly, the industry associations have expressed their agreement to the construction of a logistics centre in the city (using the old Magazzini Generali), on condition that the individual roles and operating methods are well defined Genoa Introduction The reality of Region Liguria has no doubt been affected by the conformation of the territory, largely mountainous and with no plains, all facing the sea. In these last years the city of Genoa has come back to being the most important port in the Mediterranean. The city of Genoa is the centre of gravity of the entire region, and an important road and railway node for national and international links towards the North, the West and the East. Figure 19: Map of Genoa Basic information on the city The Liguria Region extends over an overall surface area of 5,421 sq. km., of which 65.1% is mountainous territory. The contribution of the Liguria region to the formation of the National Added Value is a little more than 32,263 billion, with a large share from services (41%), trade (22%) and industry ( 7,225 billion, equal to 22.4%). The Liguria Region boasts 158,798 companies, mostly concentrated in the Province of Genoa; the breakdown according to economic sector shows a prevalence of trading activities (48,025 companies), followed by construction (21,278), while industry is made up of 16,742 units; workers amount to a total of 596,127, 142,370 of which are employed in industry. 99

100 cityfreight FINAL REPORT The Province of Genoa has about 903,000 inhabitants; the settlement density is 491 inh./sq. km. and 65% of the population belongs to the age group, however, also the number of over-65s makes Genoa the sixth Italian province with a high incidence of people in that category; the average income per capita in the Province in 1999 was 17, The entrepreneurial fabric counts on 80,831 companies and is oriented towards the service sector, especially trade and business services. Industry and manufacturing activities comprise 9,553 companies with 73,643 employees. Agriculture is scarce, owing to the peculiar characteristics of the territory. Business density is equal to 8.9 entrepreneurs per 100 inhabitants; the structure of companies is prevalently very small. The Added Value produced by the Genoese economy amounts to 18,652 billion, which corresponds to 2% of the national total. Industry contributed 3,676 billion. The overall disposition to exports by the Province of Genoa is rather low, recording a value of 2,173 billion in 2000, producing a negative import-export balance amounting to 5,164 billion. These factors, together with an equally low rate of aperture, make Genoa the last Province in the North-west. Among the best-exported products is machinery for the production of mechanical energy, metals and alloys. Main importers are European countries, especially France. In terms of imports, there is no prevailing goods category. Solely agriculture, and hence the food industry, generates slightly more significant data. The main importing countries are Finland, the U.S., Cameroon, Brazil, and Iran. In terms of infrastructures, the index related to ports is a considerable 614.2; also indexes related to other transport infrastructures remain above the national averages: for roads, 141 for railways, and 192 for airports. Transport and communications companies numbered 5,000 in 2000, according to Infocamere data, corresponding to 6.7% of the total. The overall vehicle park amounts to 36,750 trucks, semi-trailers, and tractors. Genoa city extends over a surface area of sq. km., mostly mountainous; in 2001, the resident population numbered little more than 603,000. Settlement density is equal to inh./sq. km. At 30 September, 2001, the Companies Register listed 44,433 companies; 16,619 of these (corresponding to 37.40%) operate in the wholesale and retail trade sector, 5,743 in construction, and 5,073 (11.41%) in manufacturing. Employees total 176,765, of which 36,888 in manufacturing, 33,580 in wholesale and retail trade and 15,927 in transportation. Companies operating in the transport and storage sectors amount to 3,163 (7.12%). The 1996 Census of Industry and Services shows that 64% of the companies are sole-trader businesses. Genoa city has 2,785 companies with more than 50 employees. The vehicle park comprised a total of 23,361 vehicles at 31/12/ Overview of goods transport flows Genoa was one of the first Italian cities to focus on issues related to goods distribution in the urban area. One of the main problems faced by trades people is that of access to and mobility within the historical city centres. 100

101 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Indeed, these city areas have a highly reduced capacity in terms of road structure and very often lack enough space to allocate to vehicle parking. In addition, the presence of monuments and historical buildings has led to panoramic and urban restrictions, which hamper the implementation of structural changes to meet the needs of those who have a business in the area. A study carried out for the historical centre of Genoa indicates that the total demand for goods transportation is around 10,250 boxes per day. The analysis does not take into account the transportation of perishable goods, given that these need special equipment. In terms of types of goods, a breakdown by category shows that the largest number of boxes (roughly 36%) contains articles of a general nature of various sizes, while (9%) is delivered to offices and 8% consists of clothing items. Two components make up the demand for goods transportation, each of which contribute almost identically to the negative external problems congestion, pollution, noise borne by citizens. The first component is the supply of goods to shops in the centre, while the second consists of the deliveries made by the shopkeepers to their customers. A. Goods Supply In this phase, the historical centre is the destination of all the goods in transit. Most shops receive goods throughout the entire morning, more than 30% also receive deliveries in the afternoon. Only a small number receive deliveries in the early morning or, by 11:00h at the latest. The vehicle most adopted is the van, given that the majority of deliveries is made up of less than five boxes, only in some cases where deliveries exceed 15 boxes or a certain weight are trucks used. In terms of the weight of each single box, 40% of the goods delivered weighs 15 kilos or less. B. Deliveries The historical centre is the departure point of goods flows destined for other city areas. In this case, deliveries are made throughout the whole day, despite the existence of specific regulations banning the circulation of vehicles in the historical centre during certain time bands. To deliver these goods, operators normally use their own vehicles, which in this case are of small capacity (three-wheel commercial vehicles, motorbikes, and cars). Like the supply of goods, each delivery consists of a very small number of boxes, fewer than five. C. Transportation Supply The number of commercial vehicles transiting Genoa s historical centre each day ranges from 226 to 265, of which, less than one hundred are service vehicles belonging to the municipal companies, Telecom, Enel, etc. In terms of the transportation methods used, 90% adopt third-party services while the rest use their own vehicles. Most third-party operators are traditional couriers (90%) 101

102 cityfreight FINAL REPORT The transportation market is highly fragmented. Indeed, none of the professional carriers specialise in deliveries to the historical centre and the market share of each operator is not more than 10% by weight and the number of boxes delivered. In addition, a study effected by the University of Genoa shows that the vehicles used have an average capacity of 1500 kilograms and carry loads that take up 76% of the available space Land use and transport infrastructure Given the particular orography of the area mostly mountainous the city of Genoa is positioned on a natural coastal outlet, which means that also the main traffic infrastructures are situated along the coast. The most important infrastructure is unquestionably the seaport, which stretches across a ground surface area of 500 hectares and a similar extent of water. The user base of the port includes important industrial companies and well-known tourist spots along the Riviera. In terms of freight traffic, the port handled roughly 52 million tonnes in 2000, marking a 10% increase on the previous year. The coastal area also is where the city s airport is located. The airport is an international hub, equipped with both a passenger and a freight terminal. The warehouse where the boxes are stored measures 3,000 square metres; the airport has all the equipment needed to handle freight, such as refrigerators, pens for live animals, areas for hazardous materials, customs clearing and courier offices. In 2000, national and international flights in arrival and departure handled 2,954 tonnes of freight (0.40% of the national total) % of which was handled by the national airline. The airport has dedicated exits giving it direct access to the main motorway arteries, in addition the state highway S.S. 1 connects it directly to the city s urban fabric. In terms of road access, road construction has had to contend with the area s uneven and tortuous territory, despite which, Genoa has an excellent road and motorway network linking it with the whole of North-east Italy (A7 A10 A12 A26). The urban network extends for 2,337 kilometres. The rail network, mostly electrified and double tracked, is likewise well placed to serve the whole area. Genoa handles freight through its Terralba freight hub and Voltri intermodal centre, which are directly linked to the seaport; however, the city lacks a direct rail link to the airport. Freight transportation by rail has marked ongoing growth over the past few years and, in 2000, rail freight traffic advanced 3.5% on Combined sea-rail traffic also is on the rise, moving about 402,000 TEUs, thanks to the new-found leadership of Genoa port in the Mediterranean. A breakdown shows that the larger part of freight movements serve the metal industry (58.9%), while containers account for 28.9% Public policies and strategies The City of Genoa is getting ready to introduce a new system of urban distribution, which aims to reduce the number of vehicles in circulation and replace the older vehicles with less air and noise pollutant vehicles. The project calls for the identification of an area to allocate to the intermodal centre (CIM), where all the goods arriving in the historical centre will be collected, before being forwarded to destination using electrical vehicles. 102

103 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Activities connected to the delivery of goods outward bound from the historical centre will be carried out using similar procedures: the products will be taken to the CIM by electrical vehicles where they will be collected for delivery by external professional carriers. An analysis of the freight-distribution transportation demand and supply market enabled us to determine the required size of the CIM, the number of vehicles, and the size of the workforce. The CIM needs to extend across 2,200 2,400 square metres, 1,000-1,200 square metres of which covered and built close to the Historical Centre; the electrical vehicles needed amount to 30 in two diverse size and capacity ranges to meet the diverse demand requirements; the workforce adds up to 42, 30 of which drivers. Estimates indicate that the number of daily shipments will be about 1,800 for 245 business days per year; the initial investment will total just over 2.5 million. In terms of the management of the CIM, three solutions are being examined: concession to private subjects, consortium companies assigned the concession by tender; public-sector management, through the incorporation of a company in which the City will be the majority shareholder; mixed public-private company, in which the Public Administration will be responsible for planning and control and the carriers responsible for operational management. Another hypothesis evaluated is that of operating an auxiliary service, entailing the recovery and recycling of used materials, such as cartons, plastic, etc., in parallel to the distribution activity. This service would not only enhance the quality of life in the area in question, but also could provide a good opportunity for the CIM to increase its revenues. The pilot phase of the project will cover a smaller area, denominated Demo, which will involve solely 17% of total commercial activities and 20% of the whole historical centre Urban freight distribution problems In order to better understand the problems relating to urban goods deliveries in Genoa and identify possible solutions (for example, exclusive and compulsory use of electrical vehicles and the construction of an intermodal centre), we spoke to both the local authorities and the parties involved (shopkeepers and transportation companies). All the parties interviewed agree that the high level of traffic congestion and noise pollution in the historical centre is connected to the commercial vehicles entering and leaving the city; this congestion does not affect only the historical centre, but also the main access roads to the city. Above all, the hauliers complain about the lack of available areas to load and unload goods, which results in the illegal use of public parking facilities: this latter case requires the presence of two people and leads to higher distribution costs. In addition, the drivers encounter numerous problems when entering the city, also underscoring the excessive wear and tear inflicted to road surfaces and infrastructures. The transportation companies are not adverse to the adoption of new technologies aimed at improving 103

104 cityfreight FINAL REPORT logistics operations, although, crucially, their adhesion depends on the rate charged for a delivery channelled through the intermodal hub. From the viewpoint of demand, the commercial operators believe it necessary to modify both parking regulations and delivery times. They do not believe they would benefit directly from the introduction of a logistics platform, especially those shopkeepers who use their own vehicles The Hague Introduction The Hague is a very vibrant city combining many functions in the inner-city. Traffic growth is likely to continue in the next decade, since investments in shops, offices and housing are growing at high speed. As such there is a need for the optimisation of city freight distribution. Until recently attention has mainly been given to passenger traffic optimisation to decrease congestion. As a result, little information and data are available on freight transport. Therefore, this section contains a somewhat general profile of freight transport and where possible a more profound insight in urban goods distribution is provided. Figure 20: The city centre of compact The Hague Source: Basic information on The Hague The Hague is located in the Randstad, the economic core of the Netherlands. The Randstad also covers the cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht and almost forms one huge city. These cities are within an distance of 65 kilometres of each other. Within this area, a large part of the Dutch economic activity is concentrated. Apart from the number one Port of Europe, located in Rotterdam and an important airport in Amsterdam, commercial and non-commercial services are important economic drivers. 104

105 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Figure 21: The Randstad area (Source: Locatienet, 2002) A9 A6 A44 A4 A2 A1 A12 A13 A15 A20 A23 A16 The Hague is located in the western edge of the Netherlands and is the country's administrative centre and seat of government and parliament including the international court of justice. The economy is dominated by commercial and non-commercial services (both accounting for 46% of the economic activity in jobs). Turnover of the companies together is 15,237 million Euro. The Hague has approximately 4,000 shops of which 31% is daily visited by consumers. Total sales surface is 595,366 square metres of which daily visited accounts for 21%. The total population of The Hague counts 441,581 persons and the region has almost 1 million inhabitants. The population density of The Hague is one of the highest in the world (6,513 inhabitants per square km). The average density in the Netherlands, 383 inhabitants per square km, is the highest rate in Europe. To put this in perspective, Germany has 232 and France 109 inhabitants per square km Overview of Goods transport flows Table 30 shows that transporting goods by sea only accounts for 7.3 % of total transport in tonnes, which is not surprising because The Hague lacks the presence of an important seaport. Road traffic takes up 86 % of total freight traffic. Approximately 92% of total arrivals and departures by road is national transport. When translating these volumes of freight to the number of trucks needed for the hinterland transport a major impact on the roads is the result. This will obviously have consequences for urban goods distribution as the same roads are being used for these purposes. 105

106 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Table 30: Arrival and departure per transport mode (tonnes); 1997 Agglomerate The Hague % Sea 1,487,420 7,3 Road 17,491,198 86,2 Short-sea 1,303,779 6,4 Rail 74 0,0 Pipe 0 0,0 Total 20,282, Source: CBS/ NEA Most of the goods flows are inbound flows with a destination to retail outlets, offices and catering. Besides the city generates an enormous in- and outflow of people everyday. Especially during the last 3 decades The Hague became an extended city with many people living in its outskirts (e.g. a new city called Zoetermeer). As a result intense commuting exists between the city and these suburban cities. Traffic intensity on the road connections to and from The Hague was between 15,000 and 20,000 and more cars per day. The growth of traffic on these connections was between 0 and 5 % in Freight traffic only accounts for 10-20% of total traffic both during the day and the night. 142,710 passenger vehicles are registered and 15,574 company vehicles, of which 88 % consists of vans. This shows the immense importance of passenger traffic flows. The Hague is rated as the third worst accessible city of the Netherlands by shippers and carriers ( Stedelijke distributie in Nederland, 1999). Developments in the retail facilities can have important effects on the traffic flows in the future. First, a renewal and/ or expansion of existing retail facilities in the inner-city, the district Leyweg, regional retailing areas In de Boogaard en Leidsenhage and finally the city centre of Zoetermeer has been planned. Second, projects including shopping centres for newly developed residential areas shopping centres supplying the Vinex-locations of Ypenburg and Wateringseveld. Finally, special facilities aiming at specific consumer groups, like employees (Bezuidenhout and the new centre) and tourists (along the coastline) (Structuurvisie Den Haag, 1999) Land use transport infrastructure The most important road connections of The Hague are the A4, connecting Rotterdam with Amsterdam, via The Hague, the A12 connecting The Hague to Utrecht, the A13 connecting Rotterdam with The Hague via Delft and the A44 from The Hague to Leiden lining up with the regional road N440 along the coastline. The A12 and the A13 are the most congested of these roads. The A12 has common traffic jams in the direction of The Hague, the A13 has common traffic jams from The Hague in the direction of Rotterdam. Within The Hague, the A4 almost reaches the city centre. At the west it is crossed by the A44. When looking at the inner-city, a Centre-Ring or main route has been developed to improve accessibility (the green route). Also a parking route has been initiated to relieve other parts of town. Within this parking route, the main shopping area of The Hague is located. The historic centre of The Hague incorporates shopping areas, recreational 106

107 FINAL REPORT cityfreight areas, offices and government buildings. The surrounding areas are dominated by housing. Since The Hague is located near the coastline of the North-sea, Scheveningen, the maritime part of the city has an important recreational and leisure function with its beaches, promenade, casino and tourist industry. Retail facilities and shops show a high level of fragmentation. The larger part of shops consists of small shops which are not visited on a daily basis. The Hague has approximately 4,000 shops of which 31% is daily visited by consumers. Total sales surface is 595,366 square metres of which daily visited accounts 21%. This results in a fragmentation in delivery flows, a high number of small vehicles/ vans in the city delivering the shops with a high frequency of deliveries. Storage is limited as much as possible, relating to the small available surface and high costs for the storage of goods. This high level of fragmentation makes the bundling of transport flows a concept very hard to achieve and congestion more intense Public policies and strategies At this moment the following measures related to city freight distribution have been implemented: streets for shipping; loading/ unloading places; parking place for freight; speed brakes; permanent and semi-permanent closure of the inner-city; time windows ( hrs); maintenance policies; night distribution; routing for dangerous goods; parking tariffs; parking prohibitions for both passengers and freight and drive-in prohibitions ( The time windows apply to those parts of the city which are marked by the local government as pedestrian areas. However, urban goods distribution still causes inconvenience for companies and inhabitants. Moreover some of these measures have reverse effects or weaken other measures. For example, weight limitations aim to reduce noise, stench, vibration and traffic insecurity from heavy freight traffic, but can lead to a higher number of small vans in the city. This is likely to decrease the accessibility rate and it makes bundling of goods very difficult to achieve. In 1993, the local government has started a study on the viability of a city distribution centre. From this study it became clear that shippers, shop owners and other actors involved did not support such a distribution centre. As a result, the local government decided to let the market initiate further actions and only to facilitate such actions. A good policy and supporting measures will however become of extreme importance. The accessibility of the city is not only getting worse but is also limited in its physical expansion by 1) national policies, that limit growth towards the green heart of the Netherlands 2) by the coastline. This means that it has to adopt a compact strategy for further growth, which will provide even more pressure on the problems of city distribution. The National Platform on Urban Goods Distribution (PSD), has stimulated The Hague, among others, to adopt/ expand its policy for city freight distribution. However, the local government has decided that it is of no concern to the city yet. The Hague ranks at the 21st place in the evaluation of freight transport measures by 50 Dutch shippers and carriers and received a negative rating. This shows the city should play a a much more active role. As for the worst accessible cities, The Hague and Rotterdam have a shared second place (13%) (NIPO PSD, 1999). 107

108 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Urban freight distribution problems An assessment should be made between the continuation of economic activity in the city centre in order to maintain viability and on the other hand the reduction of congestion in the city. A tension exists between growing transport flows supporting the delivery of shops and a reduction of transport flows by policies to improve pollution levels and the quality of life. When sustaining the economic activity, shops and stores have to be delivered timely and frequent, thus generating more transport and passenger flows and congestion. The city of The Hague is characterised by a dense combination of infrastructure, offices, shops and houses. Many ministries and (international) institutes are located in its city centre. As a result The Hague city does not generate a substantial outflow of good flows. Most of its goods flows are therefore inbound flows with a destination at retail outlets, its offices and catering. Besides the city generates an enormous in- and outflow of people everyday. Especially during the last 3 decades The Hague became an extended city with many people living in its outskirts. As a result intense commuting exists between the city and these suburban cities. As a result the city of The Hague is confronted with much congestion. As in the other old Dutch cities selected for City Freight, its city centre is not suited for the enormous inflow of people and goods. As a result outlets and transportation companies have to face this mess of cars, trucks, trams, cyclists and pedestrians on a daily base. If nothing is done this situation will only get worse. Congestion rates are still growing. Related to the economic growth in the Netherlands also the number of calculated trip kilometres increased. Both passenger transport as well as goods transport influenced this trend. Consumer demand is changing at an unprecedented speed. Companies have to adapt to this with more flexible logistics systems. Supply chains are therefore becoming more demand-driven. Goods are replenished at more speed and in smaller quantities. In-store warehouse space completely disappeared. As a result more trucks and vans need to be used for replenishment processes. Not only will the situation get worse, but also companies are confronted more frequently with the high levels of congestion. Several measures were installed in the last few years to direct urban distribution processes in a more wanted direction. Also the city of The Hague started to install different kinds of access restrictions based on time or more technical indicators (length and or weight of the truck). Even though some of the measures were rather successful one can conclude that most of the problems still exist. Some of the installed measures even led to an increase in the number of shipments. Length-restriction e.g. led to an increased use of small distribution vans. In order to provide for more suitable solutions a more integral approach is needed. Not only should market parties be involved much more in the installation of measures also should passenger transport become more and more an integral part of city distribution measures. One should e.g. prohibit that goods transport and passenger transport are forced to make use of the same scarce transport infrastructure within the same time frame. Until now, the city of The Hague did not show much initiative in preparing policy on goods transport or in stimulating initiatives / projects. Except for its horse and wagon project (see section 10.7), the city did not prepare many other concrete projects. Therefore the city of The Hague needs to develop a more active attitude towards city distribution solutions. Market parties should be approached to be part of this development as well. 108

109 FINAL REPORT cityfreight In the NVVP (National Traffic and Transport Programme) the new policy ambitions and guidelines on freight transport in general and urban goods distribution to a smaller extent are included. This policy still has to be formalised. The existing guidelines and measures discussed in chapter are based on the former SVV-plan in which freight traffic was a very important topic. Some initiatives have been taken in line with the new NVVP, but it remains difficult to draw up policies as long as the NVVP is not official yet. It must be noted that the NVVP should be translated into a regional and local policy upon freight transport and urban goods distribution and as such be included in Regional Traffic and Transport Programmes as soon as it has a formal status Malaga Basic information on the city Population (inhabitants) Metropolitan Area (inhabitants) Agriculture 5,52% Industry 11,54% Construction 17,45% Services 65,49% Transport infrastructure A. Information: Roads: N-340 (Cadiz-Barcelona); N-331(Córdoba-Málaga). Railway line:málaga-córdoba-antequera. Airport: one of the most important airports in Spain. It is 8 km from the capital and less than 15 minutes from the port, with a direct motorway connection. Port: the port represents a considerable tonnage of petrol, diesel, cement, cereals, fertilizers, etc. B. Goods Terminal: Railway station: 305,000 t (plus almost 8.8 million passengers) Port: 9.3 m t (and more than 316,000 passengers) Airport: in 2000, it moved almost 9,881 t. (and more than 9.4 million passengers) 109

110 cityfreight FINAL REPORT C. Large Installations: Mercamalaga. 2 El Corte Inglés. 4 Carrefour Stores Mercamalaga, in operation since 1981, extends over almost 30 Ha and is strategically located with perfect communications with the Costa del Sol motorway, ten minutes from Malaga city centre or the airport, and beside the railway line. The installations of this food distribution unit have expanded greatly in recent years, with the incorporation of new activities. The CTM in Malaga is a logistics platform expressly designed to house and develop commercial and business activities in the transport sector Urban freight distribution problems The problems of city freight distribution in the case of Spain is actually in a first stage of analysis and because of the Spanish configuration in local authorities the developments are mainly related on local regulations. In this area the main topic to be discussed between authority and logistic operators is the size of the trucks and the hours for introduce the freight in the city centre. Due to all of these considerations the problems and the development needs are specific for each city and we carry out their study in the WP4. At this level we concentrate our effort in the following topics about the regulations of city freight distribution Valladolid Basic information on the city Population (inhabitants) 319,129 Metropolitan Area (inhabitants) 351,453 Agriculture 1.5% Industry 29.98% Construction 12.75% Services 59.75% Transport infrastructure A. Information : Roads: N-601 (Valladolid-León); N-620 (Burgos-Fuentes de Oñoro). Railways line: Valladolid is a core Railways point due to it is used by both trains gone to Galicia and Asturias. 110

111 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Airport: located 40 km of Oviedo B. Goods Terminal: Railways station: It owns the most important goods terminal of Castilla-León dealing with more than tonnes per year. Airport: in 2000, it moved over 178 t of cargo. C. Large Installations: Mercasturias and 2 El Corte Inglés Barnsley Introduction Barnsley is a northern English town, part of the South Yorkshire conurbation and bordering the West Yorkshire conurbation to the north. Centrally placed it is well situated for M1 and M62 traffic, but is still undergoing major restructuring after the decline of traditional mining and associated industries. Barnsley covers an area of 32,863 hectares or 127 square miles, making it one of the most extensive metropolitan areas in the UK. It has a population of 228,100 and strong contrasts between rural and Pennine countryside (68% of the borough is green belt, 9% is National Park land) and urban industrial areas, including the main town of Barnsley and other smaller towns and former mining villages. The main local government body in the area is Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council (BMBC) with 10,836 employees and a gross expenditure for 2002/3 of 397 million. An income of 173 million leaves a Net Cost of Services of 224 million Basic information on the city A. Population trends in Barnsley Metropolitan Borough A..1. Historic Change The population of the Barnsley area grew rapidly between 1850 and 1940 as the coal mining industry expanded. Between 1900 and 1930, the population living within the present Borough boundary increased by 45%. The population stabilised after 1945 and has remained at around 225,000 until now. Recently, the population has increased slightly to reach its highest level ever at 228,200 in The population density of the Borough is 6.95 persons per hectare (1,800 per square mile). The age structure of Barnsley is similar to the national average although there are fewer young adults, which is mainly due to students from Barnsley living elsewhere. A..2. Projected Changes in Population The total population of Barnsley is not expected to change significantly over the next twenty years. However, there will be changes in the different age groups. 111

112 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Although the total number of children has been fairly static in recent years, the falling birth rate means that the number of young children has been declining. There has also been a growing number of older children but their numbers will begin to fall before The total number of children will fall between 2001 and 2006, when there will be 2,200 less children aged 0-15 years (a decline of 5%), mainly affecting the 0-10 age range. The largest growth rate is amongst the most elderly. From 2001, there are an extra 1,550 people over 75 years of age (a rise of 9.5%). A..3. Population Distribution About 87% of the Borough's population live to the east of the M1. Population density in the eastern half of the Borough is persons per hectare, ten times higher than in the western half. Barnsley town has a population of 81,200 but most people live in much smaller towns and villages, in most cases former mining communities. The western half of the Borough has only one small town, Penistone, and a large number of villages and farms. A..4. Changing Population Distribution Population growth in recent decades has occurred mainly to the west of Barnsley town. Growth areas have been Darton, Dodworth, Barugh, Penistone and Silkstone which have increased in population by between 20% and 40% over the last 25 years. Some areas in the East of the Borough have had gradual population decline due to people moving away, notably the inner parts of Barnsley town, Athersley, Thurnscoe, Grimethorpe, Wombwell, Worsbrough and Cudworth A..5. Employment and Unemployment The average figure for unemployment in South Yorkshire, 7%, is higher than the United Kingdom average of 4%. (March 2000 figures). Of the four Districts, Rotherham has the highest unemployment rate of 8%, and along with Barnsley and Doncaster has an unemployment rate above the South Yorkshire average. A..6. Regional and local structures Since the abolition of the South Yorkshire County Council in 1986, Barnsley has been autonomous from its neighbours and is a unitary authority in that there is no county or regional government between it and national government. In land use planning there are large expanses of open agricultural land between it and its neighbours. There is little conflict on planning issues and the few that have arisen have been dealt with bilaterally. On a transport front there is a county body responsible for public transport, the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, and although public transport is planned on a borough level there is county view and bilateral planning with Wakefield to the North. Police continue to operate at a county level, administered through the South Yorkshire Joint Secretariat. Other regional bodies exist, with no legislative roles. These include the South Yorkshire Forum (a sub-regional forum formed to support regeneration), Yorkshire Forward (the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Development Agency), and the Regional Assembly for Yorkshire and Humberside, which is a forum and not a legislative body in the sense of the Scottish or Welsh devolved governments. 112

113 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Overview of goods transport flows Barnsley has 5 major industrial zones designed to attract inward investment as well as previously developed employment areas. The positioning of Barnsley nationally makes it well placed as a manufacturing town, shipping goods via long haul trunking to national distribution centres or customers. Manor Bakeries in Carlton (to the north of the city) and Premdor in Darton are examples of such flows. Premdor alone generate 225 outbound full articulated loads a week; Manor Bakeries generate 246 out and inbound shipments. For those plants which located into the zones close to the M1 this is a relatively simple freight operation, but for plants located in older locations, such as Manor Bakeries, this can cause problems as they try to navigate bridges in their travel to the M1. To the west of the M1 major freight routes run from manufacturers in Penistone, Cawthorne, East to the M1, West over the Pennines to Manchester and South to Sheffield. Other freight flows into South Yorkshire over the Pennines and to and from the M1 mean that there is extensive HGV traffic through small rural villages. This generates complaints in Thurlstone, a real problem in a Z-bend village called Wortley and has led to a new bypass away from Silkstone Village. The interviews do suggest, however, that complaints may be related to the maturity of the community and to what extent they work in the area. Thurgoland, for example, is a small village with a major HGV depot with over 40 cabs and yet our interviewees chose it as an example of a village where they receive almost no complaints. Existing communities associated with industry and commerce may be more tolerant than incomers. Figure 22: Map of Barnsley Source: Barnsley Development Agency In the centre of Barnsley, around the M1 junction 37, there is a pinch point of congestion. Close to this is a distribution centre, a clothing manufacturer, a hospital, a new industrial estate on the West, and commuting traffic flows in and out of the town. This area is being studied at the moment but the congestion is leading to calls by some local politicians to relocate industry to reduce freight traffic. It is the opinion of the authors that the congestion here, whilst noticeable for Barnsley, is hardly great compared to most UK and EU towns. There are plans under consideration to build a bypass around the village of 113

114 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Dodworth, allowing a direct route from the M1 to the industrial estate and then on to the A628 heading to Manchester. Slightly to the North East of junction 37 is an area of residential housing, the hospital, a school and flows of freight. Some of this freight is diverted from the north of the town due to low bridges and also the hospital, which is a generator of freight flows in and out. The hospital is also reducing staff parking and as such this area is now a mix of parked cars and slow moving cars and large, high HGVs. In our interviews the generators and carriers of this freight expressed concerns about the impact they have on this area, the police suggested that parked cars made an effective traffic calming measure and the council talked of future plans to avoid it with a Northern Orbital road. The town centre itself has an urban dual carriage way running to the South, the West Way, which routes traffic away from a centre that is a mix of pedestrianisation, pedestrian zones that don t function as such and continuing small roads for access. Close to the centre and the South East is the Stairfoot roundabout, built some two decades ago and fitted with traffic lights about a decade ago. The roundabout is a congestion area for Barnsley. With growing development of the employment area immediately South of it, this will worsen and work will be needed to cope with the increased flows. Further South at junction 36 is the Dearne Valley Parkway, which routes freight through land zoned for employment but is currently green fields. This also provides an arterial route to link with the North-East of the town and the developments at the regeneration zone at Grimethorpe. The road is also the link to the A1(M) motorway, and it is along this route that inbound goods from the east of the country arrive at Barnsley. To the North is junction 38 of the M1, and it is here that the substantial flows of goods from manufacturers such as Premdor feed their product onto the M1 and away from the area. A. Traffic count data Traffic count data from BMBC shows that on average 14% of all traffic within the town centre is freight. This is higher in the first part of the day and falls away as the day progresses. The traffic counts were carried out over thirteen key routes in and out of the town centre throughout Since they start at 07:00 hrs, it is possible that they understate the total volume of freight traffic which often starts much earlier. B. Passenger traffic Since 1987 there has been a 36% drop in the number of passengers crossing the Barnsley cordon by bus. During the same period there has been a 23% increase in the number of passengers crossing the cordon by car, LGV or MC. In 1999 public transport accounted for 20% of all passengers crossing the cordon. BMBC reports that 15,000 more people commute away from Barnsley than commute in. Barnsley has one Quality Bus Route from the town to Wakefield. Developed with the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, the bus companies and the respective councils, it gives priority to buses at all lights using transponders. There is no plan to allow freight to use this bus route. 114

115 FINAL REPORT cityfreight C. Proposals for the future There are plans to bypass the residential areas to the north west of the town, allowing traffic from the Carlton area to directly access the M1 junction 38. This would meet many of the needs of the freight generators who currently have to avoid the bridge. A Cudworth Bypass is planned which will avoid the Cudworth area and the low bridge. Again this will alleviate the problems that HGVs have and prevent routing through residential areas. English Welsh and Scottish Railway recently announced that a planning application had been lodged for the development of its land at Tinsley in Sheffield. A proposed 65m redevelopment is to provide logistics and warehousing facilities for third party logistics to move freight by rail with good rail connections to the rest of South Yorkshire. Such a facility would be located around junction 34 of the M1, and this would be a significant opportunity for Barnsley even though it is not in the borough. Interest in reliable long haul rail freight to the South West and Scotland was expressed in interview. Central Railway is proposing to build and operate a European standard railway between the North West of England and Northern France, with terminals located for access from UK motorways with a lorries-on-trains service. In Barnsley the route that Central Railway would wish to use has been converted to leisure use as the Trans Pennine Trail. For the railway to be reopened it would require civil engineering work to reopen tunnels currently blocked. The advantage of the route for freight is that it was built to the Berne gauge, and as such is wider and higher than most UK railways and is optimised for running high speed freight Land use and transport infrastructure Barnsley was a major mining town for most of the 19th and 20th centuries and its land use and spatial layout reflect this. It is a patchwork of residential, industrial and agricultural zones, from the flat East to the rising Pennines of the West. Driving around Barnsley one passes through social housing, light industrial parks, farms, open countryside and private residential areas. The commercial and retail core of Barnsley lies in the town centre. There are few examples of out of town retail developments, and the core is focussed on the markets area and a small shopping district. Due to the development of housing near the mines, Barnsley now has many communities isolated around historic mines, located in open countryside. As an accident of history, Barnsley has both the advantage of mixed usage and healthy 'green lungs' and the disadvantage of housing isolated from employment. The Council embarked on policies in the early to mid-1990s to counter the decline of the mining industry and to locate industrial zones to attract inward investment. They developed a policy to identify and develop industrial zones with good access to the M1 motorway network. Of the potential areas identified, 5 were developed at Hoyland (3), Wombwell (1) and Darton (1). For the development of industrial zones in the South of the town, a new dual carriageway link to the M1 was proactively built, the Dearne Towns Link Road. In interviews with industrial manufacturers placed in these areas, the access to the M1 has attracted manufacturers using the M1 to long haul their goods to customers and distribution centres. Premdor at Darton is one such manufacturer, shipping joinery products nationwide with little interaction with Barnsley proper. In 1998 the council and other interested local parties formed the Barnsley Development Agency for the furtherance of the economic and physical regeneration of the Barnsley economy, infrastructure and environment, and the securing of rewarding jobs and 115

116 cityfreight FINAL REPORT opportunities for the maximum possible number of... citizens. Barnsley enjoys Tier 1 Assisted Area Status, attracting the highest level of Regional Selective Assistance. The planning of proposed land use is iterative between Planning and Transportation, and both functions fall within the same overall service. This differs from most UK towns where the Highways Authority and the planning authority sit at different levels of government. Whilst the M1 industrial zones were designed to attract new inward investment, certain communities in Barnsley have high populations focussed around closed mines with high social deprivation and unemployment. There are also well established businesses in the town which have high freight flows and poor access to the motorways, such as Manor Bakeries in Carlton. These are often not co-located to the M1 or other arterial routes. Grimethorpe is one such community where there are plans to develop a biomass power generation plant. However, given its distance from the existing infrastructure, this will require the reopening of a previously disused rail line and further development of the transport infrastructure. The zoning of land for employment use on the South of the borough was matched with national guidelines as to the type of road, but not the size and capacity of the road required to service the prospective units. The co-location of industrial zones with the M1, and the development of transport to service new developments is clear. What is not obvious is the zoning of land with a view to the impact on existing transport flows or capacities. There is a multiplicity of factors involved in the zoning of land: flatness, drainage, impact on residents, bridges and level crossings. This mitigates against new zones, and the Unitary Development Plan for Barnsley shows that this leads to an extension of employment zones, even though this may further load congestion spots in the city. The development of further industrial and retail activity at Stairfoot will impact on a congested area, but it is easier to expand than start afresh. In December 2000 BMBC adopted a Unitary Development Plan. The UDP is a land use plan which helps deliver the Barnsley Community Plan. It looks ahead over a 15 year period and influences the way land and buildings are used. It assesses the current problems and issues facing the area and the needs of the local community. Most proposals for development require planning permission before they can go ahead. The UDP provides a framework of policies for deciding whether such proposals should be granted or refused - if the proposal does accord with the policies in the UDP then it will normally be granted planning permission. The UDP and the review published 2002 addresses land use, spatial growth and transportation, yet has no mention of freight. Barnsley is part of South Yorkshire, which is eligible instead for Objective One aid, the highest level of assistance that the EU provides. Economic restructuring has particularly devastated South Yorkshire, where once-robust coal, steel and engineering industries have withered. South Yorkshire's per-capita gross domestic product now stands at barely 75 per cent of the European average, according to analyses by Eurostat. Objective One funding and projects underlie much of the regeneration activity in Barnsley. The South Yorkshire Forum, for which Barnsley provides the secretariat, has an ongoing Objective One Programme and is currently looking to investigate the optimal spatial relationship within South Yorkshire with a view to a polycentric model. In 2002 BMBC embarked on a new project to redefine the urban centre of the Barnsley town centre. Entitled 'Rethinking Barnsley' the project is designed to transform expectations and aspirations for Barnsley and its people, moving the Borough on from its coal mining heritage by building on its history as a Market Town. The process began with visioning from Allsop Architects, leading to a public forum and workshops running over the weekend of 9-11 th May With about 1,500 of the public taking part for 7,500 hours, the workshops developed ideas for the regeneration of the town with a well- 116

117 FINAL REPORT cityfreight defined centre, a 'halo' of activity within a living wall. Whilst the project was generally mocked in the national media, it has generated a locally driven vision of what the town centre should be and appears to be galvanising planning and regeneration activity around the new focus and incorporation into a Master Plan for Barnsley by December Whilst transport was one of the areas that was developed from this process, unfortunately no mention of freight was made. A. The railways The council has no explicit plan to preserve disused rail infrastructure in Barnsley. The old Central Freight line which runs from Lancashire into Barnsley and onto Sheffield has been converted to walking and leisure use as the Trans Pennine Trail. Although there is ongoing speculation that this line could be redeveloped as a dedicated freight railway, no concrete plans exist. Although some of the new zoning of land for employment is colocated with a rail line, no explicit vision exists to develop facilities for rail use. B. The waterways The South Yorkshire Navigation is an officially designated commercial waterway but it does not run through the Barnsley area Public policies and strategies A. Access restrictions Barnsley has a 7.5t weight limit extending around the town centre. It is not varied by time but allows access at all times. Since the areas it covers would only attract delivery vehicles, it is effectively redundant. At all times we noted a wide range of vehicles including rigid refrigerated lorries and large articulated lorries in the area of Peel Street which is within the weight limit zone. Combined with widespread parking, contractors vehicles etc. we saw many examples of vehicle conflict and road blocking. A similar limit exists in Wombwell with similar effects. In the centre of town there is a retail development named the Thomas Whitworth Forum, next to which are located bars and cafes suited to a pavement society. The area is signed as a pedestrian zone with limited access, but is full of parked cars; we have seen freight vans parked up regularly blocking the small alleyways. Ironically, the area is fitted with rising bollards to control access but according to the shopkeepers they haven't been used since installation some 12 months ago. There have been major problems with connection to the CCTV system and contracts for that work are to be let in the latter half of Given that some kind of unmanned but physical access control is a potential solution to the vehicle encroachment in town, it is to be hoped that this first trial is resolved successfully. At the South of the town centre, next to the Alhambra Shopping Centre there are two streets, Albert Street and Hayes Croft. Both are accessed via a signed pedestrian zone on New Street. Although a complex sign details what times this is to be a pedestrian zone, in effect the exception for access means that vehicles access the pedestrian area constantly. Similar effects can be seen on Wellington Street which joins New Street. Bridges form a major problem for many Barnsley manufacturers. Manufacturers of light products tend to prefer high vehicles, and in our interviews we identified that the bridges at Cudworth, Stairfoot and Wombwell cause lorry flows into residential areas which could be avoided with higher bridges or new routes. We were made aware of long-term plans to 117

118 cityfreight FINAL REPORT bypass the Cudworth bridge, and it was suggested by some that railway bridges on redundant rail lines could be replaced with higher single span pedestrian bridges. This would conflict with the national government s wish to preserve rail infrastructure for future use and may not be a viable solution. B. Time restrictions Whilst the pedestrian zones in the centre of town are partially time-restricted, in effect the ability to enter areas for access makes them redundant. It was also noticeable that passenger vehicles entered these areas as often as freight vehicles. Since enforcement is an issue, physical methods of timed access should be considered. C. The Local Transport Plan (LTP) The Local Transport Plan for South Yorkshire is primarily a passenger transport oriented document. It does make passing reference to freight in that an objective is the safe and efficient movement of goods and people, but when one then sees how this is mapped onto activities and plans, it links to roads and bridge maintenance. In the plan are three expenditure plans, 15/17/20m per annum. In all three the amount allocated to freight is 232,000 per annum. If road freight is 14% of all traffic in Barnsley, and quite probably in the rest of South Yorkshire, why is only 1.55% of the budget (on a 15m per annum plan) allocated to freight measures? The plan also proposes 400,000 per annum on rail accessibility initiatives. The plan also shows that priority of transport modes is crucial to the low priority given to freight. The plan makers proposed the following priority of consideration of transport users: 118 Pedestrians; People with disabilities; Cyclists and public transport users; Commercial vehicles; Private cars. Qualitative consultation supported the order but quantitative consultation showed the following: People with disabilities; Pedestrians; Public transport users; Private cars; Cyclists; Commercial vehicles. Fortunately the plan makers went with the first hierarchy but it does show that even an area with a historical industrial bias such as South Yorkshire is heavily prejudiced against freight.

119 FINAL REPORT cityfreight It is not to say that the plan is actively anti-freight, more that it omits it. For example, the A628 Cudworth Bypass mentioned elsewhere as potentially helping freight movements in Barnsley is rated highly in the plan on the grounds of pedestrian, bus and regeneration benefits. It is not that these are not excellent reasons for the bypass, but that it also has an impact on freight and this would have been better evaluated Urban freight distribution problems Recruitment In our interviews we found that staff recruitment was starting to become a problem in the Barnsley area. Staff turnover in the freight operators and the freight generator fleets was reported to be about 30%. One gentleman noted that in the past drivers only left when they died, and whilst the core staff were loyal, recruiting new staff was difficult. The temporary driver agencies had moved from a position of weakness to one of strength and temporary drivers were now paid more than permanent staff with consequent problems Working Time Directive Interviewees were unclear as to the final impact that implementation of the working time directive will have on their businesses, but were clear that it would change the dynamics of their business. Companies shipping long haul to national distribution centres said that it might cause their company to move from a single national centre to two. Long haul freight to customers in the South West and Scotland would be difficult to reach, and might make long haul rail freight an option Theft Theft of fuel and trailers had hit half of all companies running freight in the last year Representation We noted disillusionment and resignations from the Road Haulage Association (RHA) after the fuel duty protests in recent years and no take up of Freight Transport Association (FTA) membership. This would make freight operators in Barnsley more difficult to talk to via a representative body Signage problems Signage to industrial estates was identified as an issue by many interviewees, both commercial and regulatory. There is a consensus that industrial estates are very poorly signed in Barnsley, often having none or only one at the actual point of entry. This is exacerbated by the fact that many estates have names which are not related to the area in which they are to be found. As the authors can confirm, it is very easy to get very confused and lost finding some businesses. A signage plan which identified routes to all industrial estates in Barnsley from the main arterial access routes and through the city would pay dividends in Barnsley Bridges The low bridge at Cudworth, in Wombwell and on the approaches to the Stairfoot roundabout cause high vehicles to route through residential areas. 119

120 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Infringements of delivery time zones The town centre is encroached upon regularly by vehicles, from private cars to articulated lorries. They park on no parking lines, in taxi bays, on the pavement, on the pedestrianised areas, next to the tables at pavement cafes. Since the traffic regulations are not well maintained by the council the police do not enforce them, and the police themselves have priorities which make traffic regulation the least of their concerns. Much of the access is legal, in that nearly all the zones and weight limits allow access. As in other cities it is often disabled access that creates the demand for access, and once available other vehicles follow. Whilst well intentioned, the town needs to decide upon its pedestrian zones, identify sensible freight access routes and policies, and then adopt a system that physically controls access Rail freight All commercial interviewees either saw no role for rail freight or where they did, were sceptical that it could meet reliable, zero failure delivery performance in lots of one wagon Satellite Tracking and Navigation We found that satellite tracking of vehicles and navigation based on what was either in use or popular with multi drop operators. Long haul operators or those who had a single destination point were less interested Preston Introduction Preston is an ancient place, receiving its Charter in 1079 with its historic Preston Guild celebrated every 20 years, with the last celebration in It was awarded city status in April 2002 by the Queen in celebration of her Golden Jubilee. The city lies at the heart of Lancashire, situated at the hub of West coast north-south communications links. Preston was a traditional manufacturing centre, particularly of textiles and engineering. With the decline of textiles and, more recently, of the aerospace industry, Preston has adapted and diversified its employment structure into distribution, service and administration. Preston is the administrative centre for Lancashire County Council with County Hall, the Crown Courts and numerous regional and sub-regional offices of public bodies, banks, insurance and other major commercial companies located in the city. The University of Central Lancashire is also based in the centre of the City with a student population approaching 18,000. Preston s central shopping area is an expanding sub-regional centre serving a hinterland of over 350,000 people. Recent new shops and improvements like pedestrianisation, as well as traditional attractions, such as the outdoor markets, have helped to bolster Preston s reputation as a premiere shopping area in the North-West. The city centre is circled by a densely developed inner urban area comprising a mixture of industry and older housing. Preston sees it self as a retail and leisure centre and as such we chose it as an example of a modern market town. 120

121 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Figure 23: Map of Preston Source: Lancashire County Council Basic information on the city Preston has a number of small and medium sized industrial areas and business parks and two hospitals. Recent updates of the 1991 Census statistics show the following changes to population, employment and car use. A. Population Table 31: Resident Mid-Year population of Preston Population change Net % Preston 131, ,700 2,900 1,200 4, Lancashire 1,409,900 1,429,400 2,000 17,600 19, England Wales & Source: ONS Mid-Year Population Estimates 51,099,500 52,943, ,500 1,004,100 1,843, Table 32: Resident Population by age group of Preston, Mid-100(%) Age band Total Preston ,700 Lancashire ,429,400 England & ,943,300 Wales Source: ONS Mid-Year Population Estimates 121

122 cityfreight FINAL REPORT B. Employment Table 33: Employee Structure of Preston; Employee Jobs Preston Lancashir e NW GB Sector No. % % % % Agriculture, energy & water Manufacturing 8, Construction 4, Wholesale & retail trades 15, Hotels & restaurants 4, Transport and communication 5, Financial intermediation 3, Other business services 11, Public admin & defence 6, Education 7, Health & social work 9, Other services 3, ALL INDUSTRIAL & SERVICES 79, Source: ONS Annual Business Inquiry, 2000 Table 34: Employment change of Preston, Employee Jobs /00 Agriculture, energy & water 1,600 1,600 1,100 1, Manufacturing 7,800 8,700 8,600 8,00 8, Construction 3,200 3,400 2,900 3,200 4, Wholesale & retail trades 15,000 15,200 17,000 16,600 16, Hotels & restaurants 3,200 3,700 4,000 4,400 4, Transport and communication 6,700 6,100 6,000 5,800 5, Financial intermediation 3,200 3,000 3,100 3,500 3, Other business services 11,200 12,500 9,800 10,800 11, Public admin & defence 8,600 8,500 7,700 6,800 6, Education 5,600 5,800 6,200 6,600 7, Health & social work 11,400 9,400 9,800 9,200 9, Other services 3,400 3,300 2,500 3,100 3, PRESTON TOTAL 81,000 81,300 78,700 79,000 79, Source: Census 1991 in Preston Local Transport Plan Preston s central shopping area attracts workers and shoppers from neighbouring Districts and beyond. It is an expanding sub-regional centre serving a surrounding population of over 350,000 people. Of the traffic crossing the four all-purpose bridges of the River Ribble leading into Preston, approximately 80% of it has both its origin and destination within only five miles of Preston city centre. There is therefore substantial scope to influence the way people travel within this area Overview of goods transport flows At present, the evidence of goods movements in and out of the city is anecdotal. Although businesses have been consulted about freight movements it has been on a general but not specific level. 122

123 FINAL REPORT cityfreight The road networks surrounding the City Centre are accessible from major roads such as the M6 and M61. Goods deliveries to the West of the city are now easier served by the new Penwitham by-pass, and likewise the M65 link to Birmingham has taken away the necessity to go into Preston City centre. There are no restrictions to the size and type of vehicle that can access the City Centre and many of the larger facilities only have deliveries by articulated vehicles. A. Passenger traffic The popularity of Preston and its economic success have put severe pressure on the highway network. Published in 1993, the Preston and South Ribble Transportation Study showed that approximately 12,000 people travel to work to the centre of Preston. The 1991 Census revealed the modal split below: Table 35: Percentage travel to work by mode Rail Bus Car Cycle Foot Work at Other Home Preston Lancashire Source: Census 1991 in Preston Local Transport Plan In the morning peak, half of the traffic approaching Preston City Centre has its destination in the Centre itself. This causes severe congestion around the centre and on the main routes into the city, stretching back several miles in the morning peak. This congestion continues for much of the day around the City Centre. As well as causing severe delays for motorists, this congestion also delays bus passengers, cyclists and commercial vehicles. The high use of the car has given rise to concerns about pollutant emissions and safety. It has been predicted that private car usage may increase between 30% and 51% in the period from At present, there is an important emphasis on changing the modal shift from cars to other more sustainable forms of transport. As a result of this, the provision of Quality Bus partnerships and bus priority has been prioritised as of paramount importance. The Quality Bus Partnership has been developed in Partnership with the Local Authority and Preston Bus and was implemented in December Initial indications are that a sustained growth in patronage of 15% has been achieved. There is also recognition that the link between the rail and bus station could be improved. B. Freight transport in the city Freight traffic moving to, from and within the city is made up of a mass of disparate individual movements of commodities and cargo moves to different imperatives and under a mass of different levels of commercial, legal and operational control. Movements by road range from very local small van type operations on short haul routes within the city to large scale movements of containerised traffic and bulk commodities. At present, freight movements in the City are predominantly road-based. The rail station in Preston is adjacent to the Fishergate Shopping Centre, an ideal location for the delivery of some goods by rail instead of road. There is reconsideration of a rail freight terminal to the South of Preston at Farington, which is on the West Coast Main Line that also runs into Preston. 123

124 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Currently, freight vehicles cannot share bus lanes. At present, there are only short stretches of bus lanes in Preston. However, there is also potential for shared use of buses and freight vehicles especially on the A59, New Hall Lane. New Hall Lane joins to the East with a short stretch of road that leads directly to Junction 31 on the M6 motorway, easily accessible to freight traffic. Going into the City Centre (West), New Hall Lane links directly to the Ring Way that skirts the City Centre. Going East at the end of Newhall Lane is the A6, London Road, which is a very wide road. In the past, London Road has had plans overturned for a bus lane that could run full length along the central reservation. This bus lane could also be used by freight vehicles. It was found in the interviews conducted that many of the freight movements into Preston centre are not from local Hauliers. C. Proposals for the future If private traffic growth is to be controlled to the extent necessary to prevent worsening congestion and associated environmental problems, more people will be encouraged to use public transport. Shorter journey times and a frequent comfortable service are essential elements in making public transport competitive with private transport. Future proposals include: An increase in Park & Ride sites at Preston East; Tom Benson Way, Cottam and Riversway, together with other sites south of the River Ribble; An increase in Priority Bus Routes on major routes into the City. Measures range from dedicated bus lanes to more limited priority for buses at junctions; A proposed new railway station at Tom Benson Way, Cottam and the possible development of disused rail lines for guided public transport services; Securing Fishergate and Church Street as a pedestrian/bus priority corridor by the introduction as a comprehensive package of road closures and associated traffic management measures. In order to prevent or deter the use of local roads by through motor traffic and remove non-essential vehicle traffic from the principal retail core of the City Centre, there will be the application of traffic management measures to secure appropriate use of the road network in accordance with the following road types and functions: Primary routes linking major centres of population and providing for regional movements and comprising motorways, trunk roads and Class A roads; Other main routes good quality roads which act as links into Preston and between Preston and other cities and primary routes; Distributor roads distribute traffic within Preston and to rural villages. They should cater for movements from locality to locality and link these areas to the primary and other main routes; Local roads provide access to adjoining land uses. Review the restrictions for daytime on-street parking to be reserved for local residents or disabled orange badge holders, or managed and charged for as short-stay facilities on a basis commensurate with off-street surface short-stay facilities, a similar distance from the main shopping area. 124

125 FINAL REPORT cityfreight The introduction of off-street parking charges which gives the opportunity to deter longstay commuter parking through its pricing structure, whilst enabling short-stay shopper parking. There is also consultation regarding the introduction of on-street parking charges within the City Centre. The Local Authority has recently established a Road Hierarchy for Preston which will be put out for consultation. The Road Hierarchy is seen as an important tool, or framework, towards which it is hoped that many of the Highway Authority s aims and objectives can be positively directed. Concerns have been expressed at the size of vehicles which presently access the City to service businesses. The Local Authority and the Highway Authority are working towards a countrywide policy on acceptable Vehicular weight limits within city centres which could be incorporated within the criteria for establishing the Road Hierarchy. However, there are no direct references to freight movements in the Preston Local Plan since it is not considered as an issue Tithebarn Regeneration Area There is currently an operating bus station situated close to the Ring Way in the North East of the City Centre, about a third of which lies within the area of the centre defined as the principal retail core. This area is also skirted by the current main concentration of shopping areas Fishergate, Friargate and Cheapside (including the market place). There is currently a MasterPlan Concept concerning the regeneration of this area through a Public/Private Partnership which is called The Tithebarn Regeneration Area. The proposed area is circled on the map overleaf: It is proposed that the area will be multi-functional incorporating shopping, leisure, working and living facilities. The new mix of uses will be accessed by an extended pedestrian circuit and will be fully integrated to complement and refine the scale and character of the city. The scale of the development should fall within the following parameters: The total scheme should be between 56,000 sq. m 76,000 sq. m gross. This should include between about 40,000 sq. m 60,500 sq. m gross of new, remodelled or refurbished retail floor space. Within this figure, provision will be made for at least one but preferably two anchor stores (i.e. major variety store, or a department store). There will also be a range of other comparison retail units, and a small element of convenience shopping may also be included. Approximately 12,500 sq. m gross of new or remodelled leisure provision (hotels, restaurants, bars, health and fitness and cinemas). In addition, the development is expected to include: A minimum of 9,300 sq. m of new or remodelled office accommodation; A minimum of 200 new residential units providing a range of dwelling types and tenures; A minimum of 50% of the new retail and leisure floor space is to be provided at street level, to ensure fully animated street edges and public realm. Consideration will also have to be given to the impact that the scheme will have on the existing highway network, public transport facilities and other transport infrastructure. Any 125

126 cityfreight FINAL REPORT additional investment required to maintain a satisfactory level of access to the City Centre will be based on the findings of a full Transport Assessment, which will be carried out by the developer at the planning application stage. The scope of the Transport Assessment will need to be agreed with the Highways Authority prior to submission, and should have an assessment dedicated to proposed freight goods and service movements. At present, there has been no formal consultation with the Traffic Management Unit concerning the proposed area covered by the development and the implications for changes in the management of new and increased traffic flows Land use and transport infrastructure As a result of the Government s Transport White Paper (1998), Lancashire County Council is prioritising the key role that land use planning has to play in delivering an integrated transport strategy. Attention will be paid to the pattern of development and the influence of location, scale, density, design and mix of land use that will help to reduce the requirement to travel, reduce the length of journeys and promote accessibility to jobs, shops and other facilities by non-car modes. Preston produced its Local Plan in response to a statutory requirement in order to: Set out an authority s policies for the control of development; and To make proposals for the development and use of land for specific purposes. The current 10-year Plan is from and although it has not been formally adopted it is still used as the guideline for Land use and planning applications. RPG13 Regional Planning Guidance (RPG) for the North West was published in 1996 and is currently under revision. To that extent the RPG for the Preston area is behind the current thinking from national and regional government and is likely to have less influence than later national guidance. National Planning Guidance revisions are promoting an increase in residential use in the town centre, which will lead to conflict with freight access at night and in the evenings. A large distribution centre in the centre is relocating to the periphery, and new commercial zoning is centred in the city. A. The road network Preston is located at the lowest bridging point of the River Ribble, at a junction of the North-West regions major motorway networks. It has easy access to the M6, M61, M55 and the extended M65 which is currently under construction. Of the 5 access roads into Preston, there are 3 that come over the river. Access can be made from: A59 - Junction 31; A6 from South Chorley; A59 from the West. The most restricted access is from the South and West by the River. Access from 5085 from Blackpool has fewer traffic flows. 126

127 FINAL REPORT cityfreight A6 North is the most freely moving of the corridors into Preston that comes off at Junction 32 of the M6. However, any incident or accident on the A6 leads to a knock-on effect in the City Centre. The Traffic Management Unit at Lancashire Constabulary has been restructured over recent years and has made road traffic a low priority. The Lancashire Road Safety project aims to increase speed enforcement by vehicles with the use of cameras. There are currently 2 full-time staff at identified collision spots. Of the 850 road injuries last year, mainly involving cars, only approximately 2% involved goods vehicles. Goods and service vehicles do feature in infringements. These usually involve speeding of smaller vehicles or being cut up by White Van Man. There is a perception by the public, fuelled by the national press, that white freight vans that travel the roads are responsible for cutting across other road users and causing possible accidents. The main issue with larger vehicles is using areas that are supposed to be pedestrianised. There is a strong view by the Traffic Management Unit that all shopping areas should be pedestrianised. The resulting knock-on effect to other surrounding roads should be decided with a multi-agency partnership approach rather than individuals making decisions concerning their section of the shopping area. At the Traffic Management Unit it was felt there should be a 10-year plan instead of a mis-match of traffic policies that would focus on the future expansion and changes in the road network. B. The railways Preston railway station lies at the hub of the Lancashire railway network serving station throughout Lancashire and beyond to Manchester, Liverpool and Yorkshire. It is also the principal station on the West Coast Mainline. A bid is being prepared under the Government s Rail Passenger Partnership scheme to increase the frequency of the trains from Preston and Manchester. This will substantially increase the viability of commuting into the City from the South-East of Preston, and out of Preston to Manchester, with a view to reducing peak hour traffic volumes. The train station is at the heart of the City Centre, being opposite the Fishergate Shopping Centre. The Traffic Management Unit believes that this close proximity of the rail network to the shopping area could mean that freight could come in by rail and be taken directly to the shops. Also, if deliveries by rail were made at night, freight could arrive by rail and be taken to Transhipment Depots to be distributed to the Centre and other areas of Preston in smaller vans. Since many of the larger retailers have their own loading bays, this could be possible if the loading bays opening times could be changed. In the Docks area the Southport Steamport Ltd. has begun to build a new centre to collect and display locomotives, carriages and other historical railway equipment. As they did previously in Southport they intend to run tourist steam train trips. In the docks area is a Fina tar distillery, which until the mid-1990s was supplied with tar via rail. As a new project funded in part by the Strategic Railway Authority, the Steamport company now provides a shunting service to the plant over their railway. They shunt 3 trains of some 14 tankers each week, moving 120,000 tonnes of tar a year and saving circa 11,000 road movements a year. The company employs 2 full-time staff and the project will help fund the voluntary work of the society. 127

128 cityfreight FINAL REPORT C. The waterways The local waterway network is part of the Lancashire Canal system that ends to the North of Preston. Construction work started in December 2000 on the Millennium Ribble Link which opened to navigation in early summer The new 6km canal will follow the route of Savick Brook, connecting the Lancaster Canal with the River Ribble at Preston. For the first time boats will be able to travel via the Ribble estuary and the Rufford branch of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal into the main canal network. The River Ribble is an important leisure and wildlife link between the open countryside and the urban area of Preston. The Riversway Docklands includes an existing marina and associated facilities, and a site has been identified adjacent to the dock for use as a water activities centre. However, there is no freight activity on the waterway, but this could be considered for the future Public policies and strategies A. Enforcement of Local regulation Preston still has criminalised parking and has a very active traffic wardens unit. When at full compliment there are 16 traffic wardens. Despite the proliferation of active wardens this has lead to only a few parking infringements by goods vehicles. Any infringements are usually speed related and are committed by smaller goods vehicles. It was noted in interview that since a moving violation requires a police officer, and that the officer needs to observe the full extent of the violation, that regulation of access with the low resources available is virtually impossible on a day-to-day basis. There is CCTV (Closed Circuit Television) in Preston City Centre but one of the conditions of its installation was that it would not be used for traffic enforcement. B. Access restrictions Preston Borough Council issues permits for access to restricted areas. The permit details the purpose of the journey and the access route permitted. The permit has a number that can be traced back to the owner. This permit has to be displayed prominently in the vehicle. Cheapside is a street that links Fishergate to Friargate and continues into the traditional market place that takes place during the week and one day at the weekend. This area has restricted gate access that is closed after and opens again at Although the area has restricted access there are currently 1,100 permit holders who are allowed to access this area. In a recent survey, it was also found that there were 500 unauthorised entries to the area. Any new users to the Preston Centre have to ask permission to park from the Police. There are a few of these requests that come mainly from construction workers. A further obstacle to access is the Fishergate Shopping Centre that has a rising bollard on the entrance to the Centre car park. This entrance is accessed by the public and freight vehicles and the bollard is controlled by the Fishergate Centre Management office. The bollard is raised and lowered by the Centre Management. C. Time restrictions The area at the end of Fishergate leading to Church Row has delivery slots of and However, one problem with this area is that it is a lively night life 128

129 FINAL REPORT cityfreight area and there have been incidents of collisions with people who have been drinking in the area. The problem was so severe that there was a Don t drink and Walk Campaign at Christmas! Preston has a well-established market place that takes place from Monday to Saturday. Parking for deliveries to the market stalls is around the periphery of the market stall area. The loading times for the market are Monday to Saturday and These times include goods vehicles and permit holders. There are also provisions for disabled badge holders from Monday Saturday D. The Local Transport Plan (LTP) The Local Transport Plan for Lancashire County Council (LCC) is for the period from 2001/ /2006. Amongst their transport visions for the future are: A transport system as environmentally friendly as possible; Safe, reliable and enjoyable journeys by all modes; Transport that reduces delays supports sustainable economic activity and moves freight by the most efficient means. The Local Transport Plan has been developed around a single core strategy for the County. The detailed issues of Plan delivery at a local level have been built up through consideration of the specific needs of individual districts and multi-authority partnerships within the County. Lancashire s Transport Strategy is based upon the findings of several multi-modal transport studies used to develop the County Council s successful transport package bids. The strategy aims to deliver the proposals of the Government s White paper on Integrated Transport. As well as transport studies, there have been Local Transport Plan Forum meetings that have involved representation by: District Councils; Neighbouring Authorities; The Regional Director of Public Health; The British Road Federation; Friends of the Earth; The Freight Transport Association; The Community Council for Lancashire; Lancaster Chamber of Commerce, Trade and Industry. The County Council has an extensive database of traffic count data, much of which has been collected on an ad-hoc basis and for various purposes. There is no specific data on the movement of freight in and out of Preston. This could be due to the difficulty in accessing information of freight movements from private organisations who consider their freight flow information commercially sensitive. 129

130 cityfreight FINAL REPORT The full Local Transport Plan is in production following extensive consultations across Lancashire. As well as setting out the financial bid to Government for financial resources for the next five years it looks forward to how to deliver improved transport for the next ten to fifteen years. E. Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) LCC has developed an ITS strategy for the Greater Preston area, entitled PRIDE. This is based on the City Pioneers project completed in The ITS City Pioneer Toolbox describes the essential features of thirty of the most common tools, and important aspects of successful implementation and operation. The Preston project began in December 2000 and has started to come into operation. The project is focussing on: Urban Traffic control; Car park management; Access control; Bus headways optimisation; Data exchange using CORBA protocols. Currently the most visible signs of the project are Variable Messaging Signs on the approaches to Preston detailing the number of free spaces in each car park. This is designed to promote usage of car parks other than Fishergate and St Georges, and therefore reducing congestion around those car parks when they are full. One of the single most important improvements in ITS systems is the use of open systems design. This technique allows systems to exchange information with other systems, resulting in cheaper and more efficient operations. PRIDE will demonstrate shared data communication and use of this open architecture to communicate with street equipment, and with the Highways Agency via the Traffic Information Highway. Opportunities exist for further demonstration of the database for SMS messaging and data feeds to route planning systems, both on vehicle and at a land based location. Such feeds providing traffic and parking information to freight operators heading in and out of Preston should improve their drop efficiency, reduce congestion and pollution, and lead to an economic and environmental synergy. Work by Taniguchi shows that by integrating real traffic data into route planning systems can yield benefits of 8.3% in time and 2.4% in kilometres travelled. Taniguchi s trials were built using historical data, research into the impact of real time data on kilometres, time and energy saved would be fruitful work Urban freight distribution problems Freight traffic problems The problem of freight operations clashing with passenger (bus) services was noted with the consequences of cargo operations being made manifest in congestion and delays to other road users. Rear access delivery bays serving some shops and retail complexes mitigates this problem to a degree but there are still traffic circulation issues that are compromised by large vehicles competing for road space at peak passenger, cyclist and 130

131 FINAL REPORT cityfreight pedestrian travel times. The problem is exacerbated by the occupation of cargo bays by cars forcing remote parking and longer dwell times to collect or deliver consignments. For premises that rely on shop front delivery the issue of casual random deliveries by suppliers and couriers seemed to create temporary pinch points in the main shopping areas. There are occasionally issues with larger freight vehicles colliding with other parked vehicles and buildings. There are still areas in the City centre that are not wide enough for the larger freight vehicles. Deliveries to the department store, Marks and Spencer are made by large articulated vehicles that have problems when leaving the area outside of Anchor Court. This is a one-way system from Earl Street to Market Street and large articulated lorries cannot get around parked vehicles in Market street. At the top of Earl Street going onto Lancaster Road there is a cut out for freight vehicles to turn. However, this is being used by other car users and people using the cash machine on the wall in the cut out area. HGVs are complained about in the Ashton Street/Fylde Road area; the vehicles should use Marsh Lane but instead often move through restricted terraced streets. In the North- East Sherwood Way generates complaints of noise, vibration and intimidation. Several freight generators are located here and the vehicles should use the Eastway. It may be helpful to meet in a forum with the commercial actors in the area to understand the issues and develop a mutual understanding of the issues and how to manage them. Preston is still a significant garment manufacturing area. Although many mills have been converted to residential use, there are still areas such as Shelley Road where large international vehicles arrive and depart in an area of narrow terraced housing. There is a natural reluctance to restrict access since it would impact on the businesses and lead to compensation claims. The concern over compensating businesses due to traffic regulation does seem to be a major issue. At present, there is a mismatch of traffic policies that have evolved over time. It would be useful if the Police Authority Traffic Management Unit could produce a 10-year plan that outlined policies and objectives for general traffic and freight traffic movements Recruitment Freight shippers identified a driver recruitment problem that is leading to a high turnover of staff. At one large Haulage company there has been a turnover of 50 drivers in the last 6 months out of a total of 160. Of these 50 drivers, 5 of them were long serving staff. The other 45 drivers lasted for an average of one month Working Time Directive Interviewees were unclear as to the final form that implementation of the working time directive will have on their businesses but were clear that it would change the dynamics of their business. At present, some tractor units were running for 24 hours using 3 drivers on a rolling basis to achieve the delivery on time Road Charging There was a general view that road charging to enter the City Centre would have a negative effect on business. However, this would depend on the charge and the method of collection. As with private vehicles, freight vehicles pay an existing road tax charge and it was felt to be unfair to be expected to pay again. There was also mention of foreign vehicles being able to use the UK road network without paying any duty at all. If foreign 131

132 cityfreight FINAL REPORT freight vehicles had to pay a levy to use the road network this would create a more level playing field Vehicle Emissions Implementation of regulations on vehicle emissions has had a mixed effect due to the age of the organisations vehicles. One Haulier had a young fleet, the oldest truck being registered in 1997 and this company had benefited from the lack of older stock. Preston itself runs a fleet of LPG vans in its Works department, the most noticeable of which are in the Pest Control Service Signage Some of the signage for directions and any weight limits were potentially misleading and in the case of one weight limited road the first notification was on approach. This could be a problem for heavier units where the driver has no prior warning of the limit being approached. Signage on the city margin active or passive to indicate traffic hot spots or temporary limits to circulation might be a useful area for development Innovation The general consensus however, was that there was little requirement for any type of route planning or tracking systems. Many routes are ones that have been used traditionally and have established arrival times. There is also a CB (Citizen Band) network that operates between cab drivers enabling them to keep each other informed of any congestion, accidents, or other obstacles to delay the final delivery time. One Haulier also believed that a tracking system could affect the working relationship with his drivers. He felt that drivers may feel that there were being watched all day because they could not be trusted. Since his company has a good working relationship with its employees the benefits of computer tracking would not have to outweigh the benefit of good working relationships with the company Freight Quality Partnership (FQP) There was a general consensus amongst the people interviewed that a commitment to make time for 4/5 days per year to attend a FQP meeting would be acceptable. It was also felt that this would be a useful forum for giving feedback to the Local Authority who is keen to set up a FQP as a remit of the recently formed dedicated freight section Problems regarding access to shopping areas The main concentrations of shopping areas are in Fishergate, Cheapside and Friargate. As a general point, Preston has a problem in that shoppers like to park in the more prestigious car parks of the Fishergate Centre and St.George s just off Fishergate. Since these fill rapidly it creates major congestion on the Fishergate road, exacerbating an already difficult situation. As noted, the use of VMS signs to dissuade cars travelling to full car parks are currently in place. 132

133 4. TYPES OF URBAN FREIGHT DISTRIBUTION INITIATIVES 4.1. Introduction The general aim of the City Freight project is to provide guidance to a whole range of stakeholders (such as governmental, regional and local authorities, logistics and transport service operators, shippers and consignees) in selecting and implementing effective and sustainable solutions for improving freight distribution in urban areas. Therefore, within the first Work package of the project, an inventory of already functioning or planned logistics schemes was carried out in the seven partner countries and their case cities. Within the later Work packages the identified initiatives and solutions have been analysed in more detail, using common criteria and assessment methods. Positive and negative impacts of the solutions on economic factors, traffic volumes, the environment (emissions, noise), safety, transport infrastructure, land use, and distribution service quality have been evaluated in quantitative or qualitative terms. Finally, each pilot city in the project has been provided with recommendations for the most suitable solutions to tackle the problems experienced in goods distribution. Most of the initiatives described here cover more than one theme. However, the themes help to see the initiatives from the different actors point of view. Operational and market initiatives are mostly of interest to companies, whereas infrastructure, land use, policy and regulative initiatives concern the authorities at national, regional and local level. Environmental and technological initiatives are important both to private and public actors. The categories of initiatives are presented in Table 36.

134 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Table 36: Planned and implemented city freight distribution initiatives identified in the City freight partner countries and cities Planned or implemented initiatives and solutions Restrictions in access to and parking in inner cities or pedestrian streets (vehicle size and time), access control systems Urban distribution centres/zones Delivery of purchases (home delivery and collection points) Operations Market Land use / infrastructure Environment Policies and regulations Use of environmentally friendly vehicles Out-of-time deliveries and evening / night deliveries IT tools (real-time traffic information, logistics management tools, logistics operations tool, traffic and parking management systems, telematics) Planning of transports (planning guide, planning cooperation, optimisation model, parking planning, traffic jams) Using water transport in urban areas Underground solutions Consolidation of deliveries Private-public co-operation forums Lanes for freight traffic Using bicycle couriers or horses in distribution Intermodal transports Improvement of highway, railway and inland waterway connections Designated parking areas Distribution strategies and policies Pricing of traffic Relocating logistics and industrial activities Dissemination of best practises Vehicle technology 4.2. Operational initiatives Technological solutions Acceleration and accuracy of delivery times, reduction of costs, convenience, safety, service quality of distribution, cargo handling and warehousing are operational objectives and attempts are made to achieve these by means of various initiatives and solutions. The emerge of e-trade and increasing congestion in town centres have inspired new ways of delivering goods to the final customers. Since delivering goods to single households is expensive and the buyer may not always be at home to receive the consignment, various kind of collection points have been created where the shipments of such as certain housing estates are distributed. Collection points offer flexible opening 134

135 FINAL REPORT cityfreight hours and possibilities to combine picking up purchases with other activities (shopping, hobbies, journey to work or school) and therefore may decrease the total volumes of passenger car traffic. In Belgium and Luxembourg, the Kiala network provides distribution points for some companies that are distance selling (i.e. via mail, phone, Internet) consumer goods. The network covers 260 service stations, supermarkets and bookstores with flexible opening hours. The customers may choose the most convenient delivery point within the network. Similar services are provided in Finland through the R-kioski chain and in the UK by Tesco supermarkets. 37 In Antwerpen, Belgium, the PuPNET scheme encourages shoppers in the main shopping street to leave their cars in one of the park-and-ride zones in the outskirts of the city. Shoppers can have their purchases picked up by a bike courier, who guarantees delivery within two hours to pick-up-points close to the park-and-ride zones and major hubs of public transport. The goods may also be ordered by phone. The goods are stored in temperature controlled lockers of different sizes, which can be opened with a special hands-free shopping pass. Hands-free shopping means that shoppers do not need to carry their purchases with them, and they can easily combine shopping activities with others such as visiting theatres or restaurants. In Rotterdam, some consumer goods can be picked up at the collection points of the Via Collect network located near the main motorway network. In Strasbourg, France, in the Relais Liberté system, home deliveries and deliveries to deposits located in the town centre and car parks are made. In Espoo, Finland, 50 single-family houses and terraced houses have tried a special reception box for home deliveries. Boxes for multiple users are also in the planning stage. It has been estimated that a Finnish household spends on an average 5 working weeks every year buying perishable goods. Unmanned reception solutions have also been developed for the delivery of goods to companies. These solutions usually are connected to deliveries outside the opening hours. Along the A4 road in Amsterdam, lockers with access codes are being installed. Ordered shipments can be picked up at any convenient time. Similar systems have been successfully implemented in some German towns (Mainz, Dortmund, Frankfurt). In Belgium, many automobile importers have equipped themselves with automatic air locks or protected containers in order to allow night deliveries. Further, the city of Louvain-la- Neuve has a comprehensive underground system for deliveries and reception boxes for night-time deliveries. The benefits of night deliveries are that the goods traffic avoids the peak hours of morning and afternoon traffic, thus decreasing congestion and improving the usage of transport capacity and the speed of deliveries. Logistics companies can also improve the usage of vehicle capacity when the time windows for distributions are wider. Night deliveries have been successfully implemented in retail chains where the company or its outsourcer is responsible for delivering goods and the stores are not located too close to residential areas. A Dutch supermarket chain (Dadira), for example, has piloted the shifting of primary distribution (from producer to distribution centre) to off-peak hours with the objective of relieving infrastructure and enlarging the time windows of secondary distribution (from DC to retail facilities) to off-peak hours (to 6 7 and 19 to 21). Some supermarkets in Britain have extended their opening hours to 24h per day in order to have staff available for night deliveries. Some British hospitals also receive goods at time. 37 More examples of pick-up points and other logistics solutions for e-commerce may be found in BESTUFS Best Practise Handbook Year 2 (2001), 135

136 cityfreight FINAL REPORT The biggest problem with off-peak deliveries is that it affects the quality of life of inhabitants in terms of noise emissions. Many towns in the UK have imposed bans on night traffic of lorries. However, the Government is willing to support transport solutions reducing congestion. Restrictions on extended delivery hours and even night deliveries will be relaxed, if companies in turn agree to use quieter distribution vehicles that pollute less and agree to a night time code of practise. In the Netherlands, noiseless cargo handling techniques and equipment are being developed within a project. Underground solutions also enable distribution at night since the noise problem caused by loading and unloading is eliminated. Not all the companies are willing to give their keys to distribution companies, if this results in a too easy access to different parts of their premises. The question of liabilities for losses and damaged goods is also more complicated when there are no personnel to receive shipments. Night deliveries also require a sufficiently broad base to operate in order to generate enough benefits to counterbalance the costs. Concentration of deliveries to limited hours may cause queues of delivery vehicles waiting for their turn to unload. In town centres with limited space available this may obstruct other traffic and disturb nearby residents. Deliveries on a scheduled day and time enable the improved planning of reception of goods and decreases queue formation. Successful implementation of this method was reported by a major department store in Tampere, Finland. The operational efficiency of distribution depends on whether the driver needs to leave the vehicle and search for the right person to receive and approve the shipment. In some cases, drivers even are in charge of placing the goods on the right shelves in stores. This notably increases the stopping time of a vehicle and takes up parking and unloading space that already is scarce. In the COST 321, it was proposed that staff at premises should take more responsibility for receiving and handling the goods in order to allow better circulation of vehicles in the city centres. Some initiatives explained in other Chapters have clear advantages in distribution operations. Other transport modes than road transport are not only more environmentally friendly but they also enable avoiding congested roads. Infrastructure and policy measures influence the fluency of delivery traffic and operations. Technological solutions are also presented in a separate Chapter. The set of operational initiatives is listed below in Table 37. Table 37: Synopsis of operational initiatives for city freight distribution Urban distribution centres/zones Delivery of purchases (home delivery and collection points) Out-of-time deliveries and evening / night deliveries IT tools (real-time traffic information, logistics management tools, logistics operations tools, traffic and parking management systems, telematics) Underground solutions (tunnels and delivery areas) Consolidation of deliveries Lanes for freight traffic Using bicycle couriers in distribution Designated parking areas Dissemination of best practises 4.3. Market initiatives By market initiatives we here mean solutions which aim at increasing co-operation among logistics companies and provide new and improved services in the distribution market. Some of the new services comprise deliveries to homes, offices or collections points, which also may enable deliveries at any time of the day. Others than road transport services are increasingly being offered, since customers are more and more conscious of 136

137 FINAL REPORT cityfreight environmental matters and when access roads are congested, they may also provide better service level. Bicycle couriers are often faster than cars in the inner cities and considerably less expensive. The most common form of co-operation is the consolidation of goods to be distributed and/or collected by different transport operators or suppliers. Consolidation reduces the number of vehicles needed for delivering the same amount of goods and thus improves cost-efficiency of transport companies and reduces environmental impacts. The British government is very interested in the possibilities of consolidation, since they offer one of the most efficient means to reduce freight vehicle traffic in cities. This is especially true for the distribution of food products, which also are sensitive to logistics costs and therefore often implicated in consolidation. An example of consolidation of food product transports is the Foodnet project in the Netherlands. In Milan, co-operatives and hauliers' associations have been established in order to reduce congestion by consolidation. In Finland, two major food producers (Valio and Saarioinen) have established a shared transport company. The consolidation of goods may be organised in a number of ways. The transport companies reach a mutual agreement on the consolidation arrangements or a third party operator carries out the collection of goods from different suppliers, takes care of consolidation in its own distribution centre and then distributes the goods. Open co-operation forums (or virtual logistics centres offering services via the Internet) have been set up in a number of cities to improve the conditions for logistics operations and competitiveness of local logistics companies. Forums also provide possibilities for establishing partnerships with other companies. In some cases public authorities or other non-profit-making actors are also involved in these forums. Concrete logistics and distribution centres open to any company to settle in are discussed in the Chapter dealing with land use and infrastructure. However, it is not always easy to establish co-operation between logistics companies. For example in Tampere, Finland, some transport companies have declared that they are unwilling to collaborate with their rivals. In matters of consolidation, a company may prefer to be able to control the transport chain up to the consignee. Companies can efficiently improve the efficiency and demand for urban freight transports. Transport companies may in their pricing favour low frequency deliveries of big slots. The consignees can reduce the number of suppliers or set their own time windows for deliveries. Shifting from an own-account transport to outsourced transports significantly improves efficiency. In Sweden, a study showed that an own-account distributor on an average travels 48 metres per each kg of delivered goods, whereas large wholesalers only travel 8 metres per kg European Conference of Ministers of Transport (1997) 137

138 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Table 38: Market initiatives in city freight distribution Urban distribution centres/zones Delivery of purchases (home delivery and collection points) Use of environmentally friendly vehicles and modes Out-of-time deliveries and evening / night deliveries Consolidation of deliveries Private-public co-operation forums Distribution strategies and policies Dissemination of best practises 4.4. Environmental initiatives Environmental programs and plans on the national, regional and local level setting specific goals for the reduction of environmental impacts of (goods) traffic nowadays are very common. Further, in order to realise such objectives, a number of concrete projects have been set up. The Environment and Mobility project under the Environmental Policy Plan for Flanders, for example, aims at developing instruments and measures to restrain the pressure of mobility on the environment. Ever-increasing traffic volumes and a rising public concern for environmental values have resulted in pressures to seek solutions to reduce the harmful effects of goods transports. Efficient planning tools and consolidation of deliveries of different companies lowers the demand for goods traffic and therefore the total environmental impacts. However, the available ICT tools and the demand for frequent deliveries have enabled cost-efficient planning of small lot deliveries that may, however, increase the total travelling distance. The role of the public sector and its administrative units is crucial and exemplary in promoting sustainable logistics. In Finland, the city of Tampere has its own distribution centre for municipal logistics, and distribution to institutional kitchens is concentrated in Espoo. Attempts are being made to lower the demand for transport by combining goods traffic with passenger traffic within the cities. Purchases made in the city centre or from distance selling companies are being delivered to different kind of collection points that are located close to residential areas or workplaces, thus reducing the need to deliver to each household. Cargo Tram is used in Dresden, Germany, to carry parts to cars being manufactured in the Volkswagen factory, which is located in the centre of the town. In Amsterdam, the possibility of making use of a combined passenger/freight metro system during the night was studied. However, the economic and operational viability of the system was found to be hard to implement. The system would increase costs due to extra handling of goods and vertical lifts needed for loading and unloading. The limitations of the metro infrastructure would also mean that the companies would have to operate with several logistics systems within a single town. The utilisation of more environmentally friendly vehicles and transport modes is a common means of diminishing the harmful impacts of goods distribution. The European Union is working on developing more stringent environmental standards for vehicles and fuels. Locally, the energy requirements of vehicles may be decreased by appropriate road infrastructure planning. The drivers may adopt energy saving driving methods. Electric and hybrid electric vehicles are being tested and already in use in some towns and companies. In the Netherlands a project is underway concerning new noiseless cargo handling techniques and equipment. Big lorries are replaced by vans when possible. It has been argued that replacing lorries with vans will increase total traffic and thus congestion. 138

139 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Bicycles couriers and distribution by walking are suitable for the delivery of express and other mail within central areas. In York, purpose-built cycle rickshaws are used for deliveries in the city centre where a ban of vehicle traffic has been imposed. In The Hague, a horse and wagon was used for goods deliveries in the town centre. The arrangement was extremely successful, but the company relocated to the outskirts of the town and thus too far from the centre to continue this operation. Fluvial transport of household waste has been operating in the Liège agglomeration, in Belgium. Additionally, there is ongoing debate on restoring a shuttle connection by river between Liège and the port of Antwerpen. In Amsterdam, packages have been delivered by water. The problem with fluvial transport is that it may be difficult to find suitable places for loading and unloading in the cities that are densely constructed and in canals filled with sightseeing boats and house boats. In Strasbourg as well as in Lille combined rail and road transportation is used in connection with the use of clean vehicles for loading and unloading in the town centre. In Preston, the train station is located in the very centre next to a major shopping area. The local Traffic Management Unit believes that goods bound to the shopping area as well as to other centrally located destinations could be transported by rail to the station from where they could be transported by vans to the final destinations. Rail distribution was tested in a Dutch project, where fast cargo trains were constantly circulating between rail distribution centres located in Utrecht, Rotterdam, Zwolle, Tilburg and Venlo. However, the project failed because of complexity of bundling of goods, risks of probable loss of competitive advantages, lack of rail capacity, preference for passenger traffic on rail, and lack of trust by retailers and market parties. In the COST 321 project, it was mentioned that pipeline transports could be increasingly used for the transportation of fuels and certain kinds of waste thus reducing lorry traffic in the urban areas. Naturally, the building costs form the major obstacle. The wide-spread use of alternative transport modes, which often need to be combined to road transport for the last kilometres of the transport chain, depend on the availability of appropriate multimodal infrastructure and cargo handling equipment allowing a fast and cost-efficient shift of transport mode. In addition, management, information exchange and administrative procedures need to be developed so that multimodal transport chains could better compete with road transports. Several kinds of access and parking restrictions on (goods) vehicles especially in the town centres have been imposed in many of the cities studied. In London, vehicles entering the city centre will be charged a special fee. These initiatives, which aim at reducing heavy traffic flows in the centres, are described more closely in Chapter 4.6 dealing with policy and regulative initiatives. The restrictions aim at decreasing traffic volumes and thus congestion, emissions, noise and other environmental impacts. However, restrictions may also increase the total travelling distance due to longer nonrestricted routes, the need to use more vehicles in order to be able to deliver to restricted areas in right time and the need to use smaller but more numerous vehicles to deliver the same amount of goods. The stores may also consider the restrictions as too inconvenient and prefer to relocate out of the centre, which increases transport distances for the transportation company and the final customer. Many initiatives introduced by the local authorities aim at reducing passenger traffic and thus congestion in city centres. These include the promotion and development of public transport services, construction of by-pass routes, access restrictions or tolls. In Tampere, Finland, there are plans to re-introduce tram traffic in order to provide efficient public transport. 139

140 cityfreight FINAL REPORT In addition to the measures mentioned above, several measures described under the other themes have positive environmental impacts (see Table 14). These include for example the consolidation of deliveries and establishment of collection points for home deliveries, which both reduce transport demands. Night deliveries have both positive and negative impacts and no generic guidelines can be given to which impacts are more significant. Table 39: Environmental initiatives Access and parking restrictions to inner cities or pedestrian streets (vehicle size and time), access control systems Use of environmentally friendly vehicles and modes IT tools (optimisation of logistics, traffic and parking management systems) Planning of transport systems Consolidation of deliveries Distribution strategies and policies Pricing of traffic Relocating logistics and industrial activities Dissemination of best practises 4.5. Land use and infrastructure initiatives Land use patterns and the location of different activities (residential, retail, logistics operations, industry) affect the volume, structure and orientation of goods transport. As described in earlier Chapters in connection with land use policies at the European and national levels, the goal for these policies is to reduce the demand for transport and its environmental effects. Integration of town and transport planning has become increasingly common, even though the special needs of freight transports still play minor role. In the Walloon region, Belgium, a manual is being prepared to help municipalities to take into account urban goods transports in the plans and to analyse urban freight transport. The Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications has prepared a planning guide to emphasise the role of transportation in general in town planning. Urban growth centres increasingly meet with difficulties due to residential areas located too close to zones with industrial and logistics activities and thus being subjected to harmful environmental impacts and dangerous goods transported close to densely populated estates. Relocating logistics or industrial activities is one solution, but it is often difficult to impose by authorities due to companies resistance. In Milan, there is a demand to relocate three logistics hubs (Smistamentio FS, Rogoredo and Porta Romana). In Vaasa, logistics companies located next to the port area are being persuaded to locate in a new business park in the vicinity of the airport with better transport connections and a possibility of avoiding traffic directed through the town centre. In Antwerp, companies located in the port area have grown impatient with the congestion and are now looking for space in other areas where links to the port may be preserved for example by barge transport along the Albert canal. In Namur, Belgium, there are plans to construct a new harbour zone in a new location (in Lustin) in order to reduce traffic through the town centre. In Helsinki, the port s facilities are located in different parts of the town and all the port functions will be transferred to a new port in Vuosaari that will be fully operative from This will decrease traffic in the city centre. The location of supermarkets and hypermarkets within a city has notable impacts especially on the demand for goods transported by the customers in their personal cars. Since markets located on the outskirts of the city generate more traffic in total, some countries and cities have taken steps to limit the establishment of new such markets. Markets not centrally located also alleviate the congestion in city centres, which is the case for example in the Hague, the Netherlands, where a large scale retail centre is being created. 140

141 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Urban logistics and distribution centres (or zones) which are open to any logistics company are already operative or being planned in several partner countries. Logistics centres are usually optimally located with good connections to street and road networks and possibly also to rail network, a seaport or an airport. Companies located in the centre may take advantage of services available to everybody (such as service stations, value added logistics services, common marketing, warehousing) or co-operate with other companies by consolidating consignments. In Genoa, a new intermodal centre is being planned for all the goods arriving from or departing to the old town. Electric vehicles will be used for the transport leg between the intermodal centre and the old town. The project also evaluates possibilities to combine the collection of recyclable materials with the distribution of goods. Similar solutions are being sought in the European City Ports project. In Rotterdam s one-stop-distri-concept (OSDS), distribution of goods within a certain area is also preceded by the consolidation of goods in a distribution centre. The city of Tampere has established a distribution centre for delivering goods to its own units. The deliveries are carried out by a single transport operator to ensure the efficient usage of transport capacity and the reduction of vehicle movements. A number of EU funded projects have dealt with transport and distribution centre issues. The EMOLITE and REFORM projects developed evaluation models for the establishment of new centres. The IMPREND project identified solutions to overcome problems (time delays and lack of co-operation) experienced in freight terminals. Schemes to establish local logistics or distribution centres have not always gained enough support from logistics companies or shop owners, as they may not be willing to enter in close co-operation with rivals or are not willing to relocate unless operational and economic gains are obvious. This was the case for example in Ghent, Belgium, where the construction of an urban distribution centre was hindered by the resistance of companies. Therefore, it has become more common to create virtual logistics centres, whose concept is to concentrate the management of logistics via information networks instead of the concentration of physical logistics operations. In Nürnberg, Germany, within the ISOLDE project, a common storage service concept was tested. The common facilities for short-term storage were located in the vicinity of the pedestrian street area. The service was targeted to store keepers in the town centre and logistics service providers, who could lessen the storage space in their premises since deliveries from the central storage would be carried out by daily distribution rounds. However, the usage rate of the storage appeared to be too low to be profitable. 39 The Volvo Suppliers Park within the Mega-Logistic Park in Belgium is an illustration of the clustering concept, where a company and its suppliers are located in the vicinity of each other. Short distances and careful planning of delivery of components significantly reduces the distances travelled. Narrow streets, pedestrian areas, lack of suitable unloading places, and other problems in distribution in the town centres have led to a growing use of underground deliveries. Underground service tunnels may be constructed to the facilities of individual companies (such as department stores) or to shopping centres, or a network of tunnels may serve several facilities. However, underground solutions are expensive to construct and the soil may not be suitable for them. In addition, the public opinion may be against underground solutions, due to damages to the ground. The Belgian city of Louvain-la-Neuve has constructed a comprehensive underground structure that includes parking, delivery quays and waste collection areas. The quays are specifically assigned and can be easily identified by their colours. Each quay is 39 TEKES (1997) 141

142 cityfreight FINAL REPORT associated with a storage area where goods may be kept so that night deliveries are possible by using night safety deposit boxes. In Helsinki, Finland, the bus station is located in the very centre of the town and does not have space for further expansion of operations. An underground terminal is being drafted in order to reduce traffic above the ground and to provide better facilities for combining passenger and cargo traffic on buses. In the Netherlands, several cities and regions have studied the feasibility of underground (subway) transport systems. However, in the near future, there seems to be no economic base for the introduction of such systems. Only the city of Tilburg is still planning to establish an underground transport system. In many cities, the access and parking of heavy goods vehicles in the town centre are often limited by local regulations. On the other hand, on-street or off-street spaces for short term parking of goods vehicles (mainly for unloading of goods) are usually available in city centres. In Belgium, it propositions have been put forward to consider incentives for companies to improve off-street unloading facilities. One option to ensure fast and safe deliveries is to require freight and service traffic plans for new premises when applying for a building permit. Vaasa in Finland is considering this solution in order to reduce operational problems experienced in distributions. Some cities have introduced designated lanes for freight transports, which improve fluidity of transports during rush hours. In the Mobilien project in the city Paris, 17 traffic lanes will be isolated from other traffic and dedicated to buses, taxis, bicycles, emergency vehicles and freight delivery transport at restricted time windows. The ongoing studies on freight movements will determine the number and location of the raised delivery areas. Rotterdam has a dedicated lane for freight traffic along the northeast bound A20 road. The city of Amsterdam is also considering allowing freight vehicles on the bus and tram lanes, accompanied within restricted access times to the city. Further, the city aims to develop logical routes for freight deliveries so that the destinations can be reached as fast as possible. The usage of bus lanes for freight traffic is not always appreciated since the authorities are afraid of congestion on these lanes, which again would decrease the fluidity of the public transport system. Figure 24: Planned bus lane delivery areas in Paris Source: The Paris presentation at the BESTUFS seminar June 2002 Construction and upgrading of by-pass and ring roads, street network and connections to seaports improve fluidity of traffic in urban centres and therefore facilitate more punctual deliveries. In addition to the development of road and street infrastructure, many cities have plans to improve rail and waterway connections. The infrastructure may have deteriorated as a consequence of diminished usage after road transports became the dominant mode. Today, congestion and concerns over the environmental effects of road transports tempt the authorities and transport companies to invest again in these transport modes. Especially in cities where dense fluvial networks cross the central areas, water transports may offer a very competitive alternative to road transports. Electrification and upgrading of rail tracks allow high-speed connections and increased competitiveness 142

143 FINAL REPORT cityfreight in contrast to road transport. Railways and waterways need to be carefully integrated to the urban traffic systems in order to guarantee their operational quality. Traffic and parking management systems have been introduced in several cities, often with dynamic functions and abilities to guide traffic away from congested or otherwise avoidable areas. These systems improve the usage of available traffic infrastructure and fluidity of traffic. However, applications specifically designed for freight traffic are not that common. Parking arrangements and parking management systems for passenger cars are being developed (underground parking, multi-storey car-parks, real time parking routing) to allow more space for delivery vehicles. In Barcelona, VMS (Variable Message Signs) are used to announce in real time the authorised user group (residents, clear-way, deliveries) of a parking or stopping place at particular time of the day 40. Within the LEAN project, an automatic reservation system for unloading zones was developed. Reservations are made by a mobile phone. 41 A summary of initiatives concerning land use and infrastructure are presented in the table below. Table 40: Land use and infrastructure initiatives Restrictions to access to and parking in inner cities or pedestrian streets (vehicle size and time), access control systems Urban distribution centres/zones IT tools for traffic and town planning Planning of transports (planning guide, planning co-operation, optimisation model, parking planning, traffic jams) Underground solutions Lanes for freight traffic Improvement of highway, railway and inland waterway connections Designated parking areas Pricing of traffic Relocating logistics and industrial activities 4.6. Policy and regulative initiatives Countries and cities transport policies often lack any reference to urban goods traffic or they only cover the topic in a very generalised way. However, it seems that awareness of these issues is growing and their integration with land use and other fields is improving. Only in some cases policies explicitly covering urban freight are available (for example city freight policies in Amsterdam and Paris as well as the Sustainable Distribution policy in Great Britain). However, the more general traffic and transport policies and strategies also do influence urban freight traffic by setting environmental objectives, proposing actions to reduce congestion, identifying important infrastructure development needs and aiming at the creation of a competitive environment for local companies. Due to a lack of research information and complexity of goods flows in cities, market actors have in some cases been involved in town and traffic planning. Even long lasting forums for private-public co-operation on urban freight issues have been established. These include the Forum for Physical Distribution in Urban Areas (PSD) in the Netherlands, 29 Freight Quality Partnerships (FGPs) in the UK and the Pôle Transport in Liège. PSD, in which the Ministry of Transport as well as companies and the Association of Dutch City Council are represented, was established to develop and exchange knowledge and start up projects in the field of city distribution. The Forum has also 40 BESTUFS (2000) 41 European Commission (2001) 143

144 cityfreight FINAL REPORT prepared uniform rules for municipalities for urban freight distribution, and its aim is to get urban freight issues included in municipal and national agendas. Regional task forces have been set up to provide tailor made solutions for municipalities. Some of the measures implemented by the Forum include standardisation of city access restriction regimes and the Piek programme for noise reduction of deliveries. The British Freight Quality Partnerships are promoted by the Government and they offer co-operations forums for local authorities, the freight industry, community organisations and residents. The most common solution to control goods traffic in cities is to set different kind of restrictions on access of goods vehicles especially to city centres, pedestrian street areas and old towns. These restrictions can be categorised in the following way: 1. Time of delivery (morning, midday, afternoon, evening, night) 2. Delivery efficiency (deliveries to the restricted area, minimum loading percentage, number of accesses, duration of delivery) 3. Vehicle characteristics (size, length, emissions, age). Time windows are set for delivery operations in order to reduce congestion and improve safety in city centres. Distribution is usually allowed before noon and again in the evening, when most of the stores have closed. Restrictions on night deliveries can be very strict as some cities ban night distribution to any site. On the other hand, other cities may only ban it in residential areas. Some restrictions to goods vehicle traffic aim at ensuring fluent distribution traffic, simultaneously ensuring that deliveries are made in an efficient way. Therefore the access may be allowed only in those cases where the vehicle is about to make a delivery in the restricted area, not just driving through. The vehicle may need to have a minimum loading percentage used. The number and duration of instances of access may also be limited in order to avoid unnecessary traffic as well as to ensure a rapid circulation of vehicles and a reduction in the number of delivery spaces required. The access may also be dependent on the vehicle s characteristics (length, capacity, age, emissions). The vehicles meeting defined criteria are granted either exclusive access to the restricted area or wider time windows. Access may be denied for vehicles that are too long as on narrow streets (particularly in old towns and pedestrian areas) such vehicles may cause damage to other vehicles or even buildings. As a rule, the cities impose restrictions that are a combination of the above-mentioned categories. In Vicenza, Italy, only vehicles with a length of less than 2.5 m and a capacity of less than 7.5 t are allowed access without restrictions to the historical old town during the permitted hours. For other vehicles, special permits need to be applied. These permits only are valid for limited times and areas where unloading may be performed. A set of possible access restrictions in the Netherlands are shown in Table 16. From 1997 to 1999, after adoption of weight limitations, the City of Amsterdam experienced a 43% increase in number of deliveries by vehicles lighter than 7.5 tonnes and 9% decrease in vehicles heavier than 7.5 tonnes. 144

145 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Table 41: Examples of possible city access regulations Vehicle Vehicle characteristics classe s 1 Weight : 3,5 7 tonnes Length : max 7 metres Wheelbase : < 4,5 metres Width : max 2,3 metres Height : max 3.2 metres Environment : Euro II, LPG, electric, gas, etc Loading requirements : none 2 Weight : 7,5 18 tonnes Length : 10 metres Wheelbase : < 5,5 metres Width :max 2,55/2,6 metres Height : max 3,6 metres Environment : Euro II or more, LPG, electric, gas, etc Loading requirements : 80% 3 Weight : tonnes Types : various Length : 11 18,75 metres Wheelbase : various Environment : Euro II or more, LPG, gas, electric, etc Loading requirements: 80% 4 Weight : 40 tonnes + Types : various Environment : Euro II or more Loading requirement : none Source: OECD Working Group on Urban Freight Transport City access regulation Always, pedestrian areas have time frame restrictions preferably between 06.00am 12.00am Often, but pedestrian areas have time frame restrictions preferably between 06.00am 12.00am Frequently, but only with special permission for the pedestrian areas and inner cities Sometimes, but only with special permission for the pedestrian areas and the inner cities Several methods have been developed to control access restrictions. In Preston, only vehicles with authorisation cards are allowed to enter some pedestrian street areas. Other ways of controlling access are gates and rising bollards in conjunction with smart cards as well as licence plate recognition. Efficient enforcement of access regulations is needed, since violations are commonly reported. Access restrictions have been criticised for various reasons. Restrictions based on time may cause unexpected problems to distribution companies. If time windows vary a lot from city to city, it may be difficult to plan multi-stop deliveries in an efficient way (as it concerns both the total costs and the distance travelled). Shop owners in the Belgian city of Liège, which does not impose any access regulations, are dissatisfied with the timing of deliveries, as distribution companies first serve the companies in cities with time restrictions and only after that distribute in Liège. In Paris, varied and incompatible regulations are also being harmonised. It has been also questioned whether access differentiation endangers free competition of transport operators. Both opposition and approval has been expressed towards night distribution. Residents are easily annoyed by noise generated by vehicles and cargo handling during night-time. Therefore some cities have strict restrictions concerning night operations, and others may ban these in the whole city area. Consignees may not be willing to receive goods during off-time, since there is no in-house staff available to open the doors and to check the consignment, which may be problematic in case of damages or losses. If the delivery 145

146 cityfreight FINAL REPORT area is directly connected to the rest of the premises, the consignees are unwilling to provide keys for access. London suffers from severe congestion and the average traffic speed has fallen below 16 kph. London, Bristol and Edinburgh will now impose a toll on vehicles (except for buses and emergency vehicles) accessing the central city. In London, the toll will be approximately 8 Euro per day and the payments will be controlled by means of Register Plate Identification technology. The imposition of the toll will take place in parallel with other measures (diversion routes, traffic calming, parking measures, sign-posting, improved enforcement of parking and loading restrictions and improved co-ordination of street work). It is estimated that the imposition of this toll will reduce the number of hours vehicles spend in traffic jams by 20 30%. Hauliers regard imposing this toll on goods vehicles extravagant, as no less costly alternatives are available, such as public transport is for passengers. In Milan the collection of tolls from vehicles accessing the area within the Bastioni ring has also been discussed. The toll would be enforced by means of an entry ticket. 42 In many cases, instead of or in addition to access regulations there are parking regulations for heavy goods vehicles. In Belgium, for example, there is a federal law restricting the parking of vehicles (of more than 7.5 tonnes) in agglomerations to eight consecutive hours. Parking over longer periods is only allowed in designated parking areas. Delivery zones and parking places have been designated for goods vehicles in several cities to speed up deliveries and to avoid stopping on pavements. However, these places may be illegally occupied by passenger cars or goods vehicles overstaying the allowed time, which leads to double parking. In addition, delivery vehicle drivers do not always use these places if they are not in the immediate vicinity of the delivery destination. Stricter police control has reduced illegal parking. In order to ensure the fluidity of goods transportation, the number of loading and unloading bays available in buildings with sales activities is often regulated. In Madrid, there must be one bay for each 500 sq. m of sales surface area, whereas in Paris, the requirement is one bay for each 250 sq. m. Conditions for providing loading bays in Zaragoza, Spain, are illustrated in Table 42 as an example. The Regions in Belgium would be willing to encourage the construction of off-street delivery bays in new buildings of commercial and industrial activities. This would take place when an environmental permit is requested for the building. In Vaasa, Finland, requiring a plan for service and distribution traffic when a building permit for a new site is being applied has been discussed Further examples of road pricing initiatives in urban areas may be obtained from the BESTUFS Best Practise Handbook Year 3 (2002),

147 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Table 42: Regulations for providing loading bays in Zaragoza, Spain Conditions for providing loading bays 1. A section of 50 metres of kerb receives more than 10 loading and unloading operations a day with commercial vehicles of more than 3.4 tonnes maximum loading weight. 2. That there are industrial installations, industrial supply stores with a surface area of more than 2,000 square metres or shops with more than 1,000 square metres in surface area, which are authorised when they do not have an internal space for the loading and unloading of goods. That the traffic studies required by the regulations in the General Land Organization Plan consider it advisable. 3. That there is sufficient business activity in the area under study but that there are no stopping areas, bus stops, reserved parking areas nearby for other purposes which do not allow a solution of the loading and unloading problems for commercial premises. 4. In addition, the following aspects of the areas reserved for loading and unloading operations are regulated: Minimum and maximum lengths of the reserved bays, namely 10 and 30 metres, respectively. Nonetheless, the Traffic and Transport Service may make allowances for the existence of special circumstances, meaning that these limits can be surpassed. Minimum distance between two non-adjoining reserved bays is 50 metres. Reserved parking times. Different time schedules are devised depending on the reasons for which the bay is reserved: Food and drink shops: from 7:00 to 12:00. Commercial and industrial uses in general: from 9:00 to 12:00 and from 14:00 to 17:00. Proximity to places with parking restrictions, heavy traffic, etc. and a great demand for loading and unloading: from 7:00 to 17:00. Specific shops in an overnight regime: from 21:00 to 7:00. In regulated parking areas: from 8:00 to 11:00 In addition to access regulations in town centres, goods vehicles may in some cities only be allowed to use designated routes. These are common for dangerous goods transport but nowadays also for other heavy goods vehicles. In Brussels, the possibility to restrict heavy goods vehicle traffic to specific circulation axes is being studied. In Amsterdam vehicles of more than 7.5 t tonnes may only use the main transport route in the city centre. As an example from outside the City Freight project area could be mentioned Bremen, in Germany, where the local authorities have only given recommendations to use certain routes, since it is expected that restrictions or bans might lead to detours and even bigger problems in certain areas. Maps showing recommended routes have been distributed to lorry drivers. 43 There are a number of initiatives that aim at reducing passenger car traffic in town centres by offering new public transport solutions and by improving the present ones (priority bus lanes, park&ride sites, etc). The reduction of passenger traffic improves the general fluidity of traffic and thus the accuracy and speed of deliveries. In the Walloon area, in Belgium, a project was launched where free bicycles are lent to shop-owners and employees in order to encourage them to park their cars outside city centre. The spaces thus vacated are available for short term parking (for such as the customers). 43 OECD Working Group on Urban Freight Transport (2002) 147

148 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Table 43: Policy and regulative initiatives Restrictions to access to and parking in inner cities or pedestrian streets (vehicle size and time), access control systems Promoting the use of environmentally friendly vehicles and modes Planning of transport systems Private-public co-operation forums Lanes for freight traffic Improvement of highway, railway and inland waterway connections Designated parking areas Distribution strategies and policies Pricing of traffic Relocating logistics and industrial activities Dissemination of best practises 4.7. Technological initiatives In general, technological initiatives can be divided into several categories: vehicle technology (energy consumption, (un)loading equipment, noise and emission reduction), cargo handling technology (automated transfer of goods, lifts), packaging (light weight and space saving solutions), information and communications technology (telematics, bar code applications, mobile phone and Internet applications), and infrastructure technology (road surface materials, facilities). Technological solutions are being developed in order to improve an environmental and economic performance of equipment, planning and operational systems and infrastructure. Electric vehicles (and hybrid electric vehicles) were the most often mentioned technological initiatives that have been tested and exploited in the City Freight partner countries. Electric cars do not cause any emissions in the air and they are more silent than normal cars. Due to lower top speed of electric vehicles they are suitable for delivering goods, which requires frequent stopping. For instance, the Finnish Post Group has acquired several electric vehicles for mail delivery. Some of the partner cities (Rotterdam and La Rochelle) have been involved in the ELCIDIS (Electric city delivery system) project, which assessed the efficiency and environmental impacts of electric vehicles in urban goods distribution. The results thus gained are regarded as promising. Yet, electric vehicles remain very expensive and therefore are not extensively used. The method of producing electricity has a bearing on the total environmental impacts of electric vehicles. Other initiatives in vehicle technology are such as smart and automated vehicles. A project in which lowered truck-trailer combination is used for loading and unloading of cargo was initiated by a Dutch supermarket organisation (Albert Heijn). Loading time is substantially reduced and since there is no need for a lift, noise from loading and unloading is also reduced. The lorry was also designed to be longer than normal trucktrailer combinations in order to allow the delivery of a complete set of assortments (including conditioned goods) at once. However, the local government argued that such a long vehicle would increase the accident risk. Similar resistance was experienced by the Forum on Urban Goods Transportation when they introduced a similar truck called Urbania. Further development needs in energy efficiency of vehicles identified in the COST 321 project concern air resistance, rolling resistance, mass reduction, engine efficiency, 148

149 FINAL REPORT cityfreight maximum power level, and the use of brake energy. 44 Alternative fuels comprise biofuel, CNG (compressed natural gas) and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas). The Piek program in the Netherlands assists companies in finding technical solutions for meeting the requirements of low noise production standards set by the government for off time periods and the night. The Dutch government subsidies pilot projects so business can meet the technical requirements. The pilot projects relate to topics such as new packaging concepts, noise reduction technology, isolation of the engine, emission control (noise and air), tyres, roll containers, infrastructure (rubber floors) and codes of behaviour Information and communication technology (ICT) has revolutionised the field of logistics by offering often real-time applications for the planning and follow-up of logistics performance (warehouse levels, transport routes, accuracy of deliveries). The Internet is also used to give easy access to information provided by the authorities and other companies (such as best practise guidelines and planning tools). In Belgium, the Promodi Internet site 45 was created to provide a neutral online management tool to give support in transport mode decision making. The tool produces comparisons with the help of a simple scientific model that gives recommendations based on the quality criteria set by the user. The user s perceptions may be compared to those entered by the previous users of the model. Local and regional electronic traffic management and telematics systems provide realtime information on traffic conditions (weather, congestion, routes, tunnels and bridges, etc) for drivers. Through the management of traffic lights and electronic traffic signs and notice boards, the fluidity and safety of traffic are improved. The Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) strategy (PRIDE) has been developed for the Greater Preston area. This project focuses on urban traffic control, car park management, access control, bus headways optimisation, and data exchange. The system uses open systems design and offers possibilities to exploit the database for providing traffic and parking information for freight operators. The Finnish Road Administration has launched the Digiroad project, in which data concerning the Finnish road and street network and a lot of relevant information for transports (such as speed limits, construction works, goods terminals, etc) will be gathered to a digital database. This will be the first national traffic database of this scope in Europe. The database offers a platform for possible applications in logistics and distribution, the realisation of which depends on the activities of commercial actors. In Toulouse, France, an optimisation and economic planning model for city transports is being tested. The model was developed by the École Centrale de Paris. 44 European Commission (1995) 45 Available at 149

150 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Tableau 44: Technological initiatives Access control systems IT tools (real-time traffic information, logistics management tools, logistics operations tool, traffic and parking management systems, telematics) Planning of transports (optimisation model, traffic and parking management software) Underground solutions Improvement of highway, railway and inland waterway connections Dissemination of best practises Technology for low noise logistics operations Vehicle technology 4.8. Problems and challenges in implementation of initiatives The initiatives that have been identified in the cities participating in the City Freight project are as a general rule transferable to other cities. The successful transferral naturally depends on the different characteristics of the cities, which need to be taken into account in the selection and implementation of these initiatives. These characteristics include the attitudes of different actors, the range of initiatives already implemented, the present land use and location of activities, the volume and structure of transport, the availability of infrastructure and sufficient demand for usage of initiatives. The project partners were also asked to describe problems experienced in implementing initiatives or initiatives that proved to be unsuccessful. Many constraints may hinder the successful implementation of possible solutions. New technological and environmental solutions (such as electric vehicles or liquid petroleum gas (LPG) engines in trucks) are often expensive and may require local or national subvention to be economically efficient for companies as well as the authorities at the local and regional level. In addition, regional, national and international co-operation should be sought both in research and development work as well as in marketing efforts in order to divide the costs and risks. The development of new technologies is resource intensive and time consuming, and therefore regulations and standards should be planned and conserved over long periods so that development costs may be covered and long-term investments become profitable. The profitability of measures requiring changes to infrastructure needs to be weighed over long term. Imposing regulations (such as access restrictions) may also appear to be expensive, since a lot of information needs to be disseminated to the users, and violations of restrictions need to be controlled. Therefore, careful planning is needed to impose measures which have sufficient benefits in respect to costs. Co-operative measures improve efficiency and reduce environmental impacts. However, companies are less than keen to make major changes to their current logistics systems and operations unless clear operational and economic benefits can be foreseen. Initiatives such as alternative transports need to have noticeable market potential before public and private investments could become profitable. The rapid development of the ICT technology prevents small and medium sized companies from taking full advantage of it. Pilot projects are a less risky method of testing new technologies and models in freight transports. It is difficult to come up with initiatives that do not encounter resistance either from the authorities, the private sector or inhabitants who are affected by goods transport. The reason for this resistance can merely be a preference to maintain the status quo or an uncertainty of the possible impacts of the initiative. In this case it is important to maintain continuous communication between the different actors so that more acceptable, and hence more likely to be successful, urban freight measures could be developed. For example, companies may find that conditions in the town centre have become too complicated with too many restrictions or additional fees and prefer to relocate in the 150

151 FINAL REPORT cityfreight outskirts, which is not usually seen as a positive development in the cities. Access and other restrictions may also be taken as discriminating actions hindering free competition. For these reasons, it is vital to involve the different actors in discussing the potential solutions and to inform them clearly of the objectives and benefits of the initiative. Since data on distribution transports in urban areas is insufficient, it is also difficult for the local authorities to see the impacts of different development options. This is true particularly because the cities characteristics vary widely, and experiences obtained in one place cannot always be applied in another. For instance, avoidance of congestion or environmental impacts by restricting traffic leads to even bigger problems on the permitted routes or during authorised delivery times. In order to be able to efficiently regulate goods traffic in the centres, information should be available on the volumes and structure of traffic (for example the share of different vehicle sizes). If the authorities are planning initiatives that will significantly influence and even restrict operations of logistics and other companies, it is important at the same time to consider ancillary measures which in turn bring benefits to the companies. A typical example of this is to restrict traffic in some areas but on the other hand provide designated routes, lanes or unloading areas for delivery vehicles. Even though a lot of time and effort have been spent on planning an appropriate way to realise urban freight measures, some unexpected problems and impacts may still occur. This has been the case with restricting large goods vehicle traffic and imposing strict time windows for deliveries. In Preston, it was discovered that smaller vehicles have hardly any mechanical cargo handling systems which could save more time and labour in distribution. In the Netherlands, it was observed that the use of small delivery vehicles increases traffic flows and therefore has a negative impact on traffic fluidity. Transport companies in Paris have had major problems with the different time restrictions in the city making the operating and planning of transport more difficult. Some measures targeted to private companies have been unsuccessful since they have required close co-operation with other private or public actors. For efficiency reasons, exchange of sensitive information is often required, which is not acceptable to companies. The same distrust of other parties has been relevant in night deliveries. On the other hand, there are companies which already have a strongly networked supply chain through partnerships and outsourcing. In these cases, it is not sufficient to try and influence the actions of single companies, since they are increasingly dependent on the network. Access and other restrictions can be easily violated and supervision may be insufficient. Physical obstacles have been put in place to avoid access violations, but these may be easily bypassed. Parking and stopping places for delivery vehicles are illegally occupied by passenger cars or they are not optimally located and therefore onstreet parking or even double parking still occurs. Therefore, it is important to get to know the needs of stores and logistics companies to be able to efficiently plan the number and locations of delivery places. In addition, understanding the supply chains preceding distribution operations should be increased in planning. The timing and type of distribution is usually dependent on the logistics systems and decisions made in stages of the supply chain far before the distribution phase. Exemptions from the restrictions are sometimes granted too easily. Many initiatives introduced both by the private and public sector aim at reducing the environmental effects of freight transport. However, it is often difficult to estimate whether environmental impacts will be reduced since the reduction in the impacts in 151

152 cityfreight FINAL REPORT one place can results in their increase in another. For example the total impacts of home deliveries on the environment are too complex to estimate. Tableau 45: Problems and challenges in the development and implementation of initiatives Expenses and risks of developing new technologies Expenses of controlling regulative initiatives Limited resources of SMEs to adopt new business models and technologies Limited demand for initiatives Resistance due to unwillingness to changes or uncertainty of possible impacts Lack of information about the positive and negative impacts of initiatives Companies unwillingness to disclose sensitive information Networked supply chains, which may reduce the possibilities of single companies to successfully change business models Violations of regulations 152

153 FINAL REPORT cityfreight 5. PRESENTATION OF CITYFREIGHT SCENARIOS 5.1. Urban Distribution and Storage Centre with electric vehicles, Brussels Truck traffic is a major contributor to congestion, air pollution, noise and stress in Brussels so-called Pentagon area, the city s historic centre. Every weekday, an estimated 180 trucks enter this 4 sq. km. area between 8 and 9 am alone. The Pentagon hosts some of Belgium s most popular shopping districts as well as a vast array of restaurants and cafés, all of which depend heavily on the accessibility and conviviality of this highly tourist area. Attempts to tame road traffic and regulate parking in the city centre have so far been met with mixed reactions from retailers and restaurant owners who fear that such moves might deter customers and impact on their prosperity. Brussels regional authorities have for years been pondering the opportunity to set up an urban distribution centre just outside of the Pentagon. This project would not be run solely as a major cross-docking operation. It would come complete with a large storage facility. Brussels urban distribution and storage centre would be set on a fairly accessible site one kilometre away from the Pentagon, in the port area (the centre for international road transport). From the evaluation carried out within the frame of the CITY FREIGHT project, it turns out that an urban distribution and storage centre would at the very best concern 15 to 20% of truck traffic entering the Pentagon area. That is because the system could only reasonably be made to capture the trucks serving the non-perishable consumer goods sectors, i.e. the leisure goods, home equipment, and clothing and accessories sectors. Because the main benefit from a UDC would lie in the possibility to replace some of the trucks serving the city centre with electric vehicles, it is necessary to examine whether such a goal could not be achieved more effectively by simpler and cheaper means. Small vans have recently become extremely popular amongst a wide array of sectors accounting for a considerable share of urban traffic: telecommunications, energy utilities, pharmacy deliveries, postal and courier services, home contractors, restaurants and caterers, grocers, etc Retail delivery stations, Belgium Like those of many other large and medium size cities, Brussels residents, work force, and visitors waste time and face a degraded environment as a result of heavy road traffic and congestion. This is especially true on the city s main access roads and within the boundaries of its medium ring road, an area with a roughly 3.5 km radius. As is to be expected, retail areas are amongst those most impacted by acute traffic congestion and pollution problems. The Brussels-Capital Region hosts approximately 110 large and medium size commercial cores. Some of these have been fitted for years with dedicated delivery areas for trucks, i.e. parking spots theoretically reserved for shop deliveries. In a lot of shopping areas, however, delivery areas are in too short supply or they are too loosely enforced to play an effective role in retail delivery. As a consequence, in the commercial cores surveyed in the framework of City Freight, 36 to 77 % of shop deliveries were performed using double parking. 153

154 cityfreight FINAL REPORT This is the kind of problem that a large and centralised urban and storage distribution centre is unlikely to solve as it would clearly lead to more deliveries rather than less. This motivated an investigation into an alternative and more decentralised system based on a series of Retail Delivery Stations (RDS). A Retail Delivery Station consists of a micro-warehouse with an off-street or an ondedicated-street loading/unloading bay. RDS should be located close enough to the shops they serve to make it possible to supply those shops from the RDS using pallet trucks, roll container, carts, wheeled stands and other such devices. They should also be easily accessible to trucks of different sizes, which is only possible where they can be located alongside major arteries or less popular roads. The amount of storage space available at an RDS determines how long later the delivered goods need to be transferred to the shops to which they are destined. All this requires is an administrative and operational deferred-delivery mechanism. The installation of a Retail Delivery Station seems particularly suitable for pedestrian streets where, for practical reasons, deliveries often have to take place at restricted times of the day, sometimes inducing severe congestion problems on access roads at rush hour. By contrast, RDS allow deliveries to take place at almost any time, including in offpeak hours, potentially saving precious time to deliverymen. In essence, a network of Retail Delivery Stations would make it possible to bring to almost any commercial core, some of the key features of shopping centres, i.e. a safe and centralised unloading area and storage facility, a shared concierge service, more flexible delivery hours for both deliveryman and shopkeepers, a separation between the supply and dispatch of goods (deliveries versus shoppers) Promoting rail solutions for freight transport to and from Brussels Substituting rail transport to road transport is one of the surest ways to relieve road traffic congestion and to curb the emissions of gases blamed for global warming. The Brussels Region and B-Cargo, the rail freight arm of Belgium s national railway company (SNCB) are constantly on the look out for ways to increase the modal share of rail for freight transport to and from the region-city. The share of rail has nevertheless fallen under 5% over the years, as a result of intense competition from road transport primarily. Brussels used to benefit from an even denser rail network, serving among other sites, the area earmarked for a possible UDC (see above) in the canal area. Parts of that system have been decommissioned over time and, in some cases, dismantled to make room for new developments or to save on operation and maintenance-related costs. Others, like a vast marshalling yard north of the city (Schaerbeek-Formation), also along the canal, are largely unused and waiting for rehabilitation and/or redevelopment. In their drive to revitalize rail freight transport, the Region and B-Cargo can count and should build on two important assets. On the one hand, the industries and trading houses most likely to rely on rail for all or part of their transport needs are conveniently located in a long corridor alongside the canal, where the rail infrastructure remains largely operational, albeit terribly congested (by passenger trains) as it goes through the city centre (the Pentagon ). On the other hand, the region is already equipped with a stateof-the-art intermodal terminal, the Brussels Terminal Intermodal (BTI), designed to handle the transhipment operations necessary to combined transport by rail, road and inland navigation. 154

155 FINAL REPORT cityfreight In order to support the use of rail freight transport in the Brussels Region, regional authorities should first make sure that strict zoning laws and regulations reserve and dedicate the lands currently available alongside the canal (outside of the city centre) to activities that will definitely or at least potentially rely on inland navigation or rail for their transport needs. The chances that Brussels will witness, in the near future, any significant increase in the number of full freight trains arriving at or originating from its territory are nevertheless rather limited. The origins and the destinations of the consignments loaded and unloaded in Brussels are, as a rule, far too fragmented to justify this kind of transport, which barely comes as a surprise given the size of the city and its population. By contrast, combined transport could be the option of choice on long distances for a lot of the smaller consignments, provided that the operators involved, from the combinedtransport terminal operator to the long-distance haulier(s), cooperate effectively together to offer a quality service to the chargers (reliability, punctuality, speed, flexibility, traceability) at a competitive price Rail transport to the European Centre for Fruits and Vegetables, Brussels Amongst the major receivers of freight in the Brussels Region is the European Centre for Fruits and Vegetables (CEFL), a company jointly owned and operated by local importers of fruits and vegetables and by Brussels City and Region (indirectly). The CEFL occupies a 13 ha. wide field alongside the canal and borders the premises of its biggest client, Brussels wholesalers market (MABRU), where grocers and restaurant owners from Brussels and beyond (in an estimated km. radius area extending well beyond Belgium s borders) supply themselves with fresh fruits and vegetables from southern European countries primarily. The CEFL used to be directly connected to the Belgian railway network and to get some of its fruits and vegetables supplies delivered by rail. The rail connection, however, was dismantled a few years ago, after it had ceased to be used for some time. Nowadays, all fruits and vegetables reach the CEFL by truck, either directly from their primary origin in (mostly Southern) Europe, or from the neighbouring ports and airports for those grown in more distant countries. The Brussels Region as well as the importers themselves would like to look again into the possibility of using rail for the transport of fruits and vegetables to the CEFL. Most of the produces received at the CEFL are grown in Spain, France and Italy, which would facilitate a geographically based consolidation of loads. The sector, however, is highly cyclical and this, in a way that differs from one production region to the other. Outgoing shipments tend to travel on shorter distances (Benelux countries) and to be spread out over a wider range of destinations. This scenarios considers three rail-based options for CEFL deliveries: Full freight trains destined exclusively to Brussels CEFL, freight trains with two or more destinations including Brussels and combined transport with transhipment at the nearby Brussels Terminal Intermodal. As the economic viability of this project highly depends on the importance and distribution of goods flows to the CEFL, an analysis of current loads and traffic has been carried out as well as an estimation of the proportion of these traffics that could be shifted from road to rail transport. In light of the above elements, we conclude that the balance leans heavily towards the use of combined transport rather than towards the use of refrigerated wagons up to the CEFL. The conditions for success outlined in the Industrial railway scenario are particularly applicable to the present scenario. 155

156 cityfreight FINAL REPORT 5.5. Cargo Tram-Train, Brussels As already indicated, Brussels regional authorities are looking at rail-based transport solutions as a substitute for road transport in order to improve the fluidity of traffic and to combat air pollution in the EU s capital. The two previous scenarios have looked at the potential shift from rail to road in inter-urban freight transport to and from Brussels. The present scenario is aimed at investigating the possibilities of using the tramway network for the supply of goods within the city. The scenario was developed as a stand-alone solution. In other words, it is based to the largest extent possible, on existing circumstances and designed to minimize the constraints imposed on any would-be participant in the system. Because almost all large industrial players and freight shippers/receivers in the Brussels Region are located in the canal area or in the periphery, we had to look at other types of players for major freight consignments. The supermarkets sector came out as the most obvious candidate for a case study, given its relative importance in the transport of goods within the city. This scenario consequently focuses on deliveries to supermarkets, a sector that generates a significant proportion of the articulated trucks traffic in the more residential districts of the city. Depending on the results obtained, extensions could be analysed and planned on the same model for other sectors. Like almost all other major consumer goods distributors, supermarket chains already have well established distribution centres. These tend to serve an area much wider than Brussels and were therefore located at a comfortable distance from its congestion problems. Their distance from the city centre would nevertheless make it hard to justify resorting to any kind of transhipment between the distribution centre and local branches. This is why, under the conditions determined for the purpose of this scenario, instead of using their usual semi-trailers to deliver the goods to their various branches in the city of Brussels, the supermarket chains would be directed to load their goods on cargo tramtrains at their distribution centre. The cargo tram-trains would be used to carry the goods from the different distribution centres to the city as well as for last-mile delivery within the city. The evaluation carried out in the framework of City Freight indicates, however, that developing a cargo tram-train system in a city like Brussels would require a significant investment for relatively modest results in terms of truck-kilometres saved and pollution alleviated. In other words, the game is not worth the candle. It is worth noting, however, that our conclusions could have been different if, like a few others cities in Europe, in Germany in particular, Brussels had already had a tram-train system running for passengers Shopping and e-commerce facilities at commuter rail stations, Brussels and Walloon Region The other scenarios analysed for the city of Brussels in the framework of CITY FREIGHT dealt with rather narrow sectors of activity and segments of traffic. Moreover, they looked at ways to improve the transport and logistics operations of organisations and businesses for whom logistics management is a key competitive factor (consumer goods distributors and retailers, supermarket chains, importers, etc.). The fact that, under such circumstances, even minor improvements often appeared to come at the cost of complex and fairly expensive schemes should therefore come as no surprise. The sixth scenario evaluated in Belgium is an attempt to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the considerable proportion of goods flows and vehicle-kilometres that are in the hands of non-professional logistics agents, i.e. in the hands of households and 156

157 FINAL REPORT cityfreight individual consumers. It is not about long distance truck trips or about pallets being shipped by the dozen over hundreds of kilometres. The Belgian authorities and railway company have been for years working on the development of a modern commuter rail system for Brussels (the so-called RER) that would extend on roughly 30 kilometres in Brussels suburbs and neighbouring provinces. The analysis of shopping and travel behaviours, however, indicate that a growing number of people tend to combine a number activities, including shopping, in complex, multipurpose trips. In Belgium, an estimated 11% of combined home-work and work-home trips include at least one stop for shopping. And the propensity to use a car is far higher among the commuters who do stop for shopping on the way. Against this kind of background, this scenario describes the impacts that ride-through shopping, i.e. the coupling of: shopping centres, convenience stores, and/or grocery and merchandise pick-up points for e-commerce purchases, in and around commuter rail stations, could have: on the modal split for commuter trips; on the number of carkilometres travelled on the shopping segment of multi-modal commutes and therefore on the emissions of pollutants in the atmosphere. The impact of retail enhanced commuter rail stations on the attractiveness of the RER can chiefly be obtained if medium-size shopping centre are located on RER lines where population and job densities are high, as well as demand for commercial diversity, i.e. in suburban satellites. With their vast and, in the week-end little-used car parks, commuter rail stations often mean enviable location to shopping centre developers. But their impact can be damaging to nearby town centres and established stores. In some cases, their net impact on car usage can even be negative (i.e. leading to an increase). While influencing positively the reduction of the number of kilometres travelled by car, convenience stores at rail stations are not likely to influence the commuters modal choice. Very useful to fit the needs of a lot of commuters, their size and narrower product range cannot compete with external shopping areas and town centre stores. Unfortunately, only a fraction of commuter rail stations are likely to handle enough passenger traffic to fully support financially the presence of a convenience store on their premises. One way to lower the break-even point for shops in rail stations is to tap into the synergies that the presence of such a shop could offer in terms of tickets sales, maintenance, security, heating, etc. In the stations where the presence of a convenience store cannot be justified even on broad economic grounds, it is possible to build on a train station s characteristics and functions to offer rail commuters special advantages. Small stations could be fitted at a relatively modest cost with remote pick-up points for e-commerce transactions. These pick-up points would consist of simple electronic lockers of the kind already used in a number of larger train stations. Commuters shopping on the Internet could have their goods delivered at any equipped station and pick them up on their way home Underground service tunnel, Helsinki Delivery to premises with no underground connection is carried out from curbside or delivery zone on earth level. Curbside delivery interferes other traffic especially in the city centres and earth level delivery zones reduce available space for retail and other business activities. Underground freight tunnels are crucial in order to allow development of pedestrian zones in densely built city centres. In tunnels, all the cargo handling takes place in indoor environment and thus decrease safety and injury risks. Freight tunnels free curbside zones and parking spots to other transport users. 157

158 cityfreight FINAL REPORT In Helsinki, the owners and leaseholders of the business real estates as well as main planners and financers have been initiators of the already implemented delivery tunnel projects. Some of the current freight tunnels have been constructed as parts of underground parking facilities, which have been financed both by private and public parties. As it concerns the tunnel to be constructed under the Aleksanterinkatu street, the traffic volumes are expected to increase in the western part of city (before the entrance to the tunnel) 23 %. In contrary the traffic will reduce after the entrance of the tunnel 20 % with vehicles/24 hours from the current vehicles/24 hours. The replacing freight traffic routes connected to the planned tunnel are slightly longer than existing ones but according to the time estimations still faster. An estimation is that approximately vehicles will utilize the underground delivery tunnel daily. The biggest improvement the underground delivery system brings on freight system is the possibility for the real estates to up-date and enlarge their maintenance facilities. To fully exploit the advantages and possibilities of underground delivery, the parties should carefully think through and plan also the logistical operations and systems used in the planned arrangement. The underground service tunnel enables unforeseen possibilities for utilizing innovative technology and cooperation between the city, real estates and different consignees Logistics centre between the harbour and the airport, Helsinki In 2008, a new port (Vuosaari) will be operative and the now existing port close to the city centre will be removed by year The location of the new port and current congestion on the Ring Roads will result in a situation where the existing logistics or land transport centres are likely to be relocated. A most obvious outcome is that all the actors make their own decisions of relocation and rescheduling, but this can lead to uncontrolled development of the metropolitan area. An alternative possibility is to concentrate the logistics operations in one area near by the new port.the eastern Ring III area is already now a major concentration of logistics activities in the capital region. Vuosaari will provide excellent connections to all transport modes. Also cargo rail terminal now located in the vicinity to the central city (in Pasila) will be relocated to Vuosaari. Relocation of warehousing and logistics activities from the central to the eastern areas of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area improves traffic fluidity in the central areas. The improved traffic fluidity increases passenger car traffic, since the residents can move further away from the city centre without a major increase in traffic time. The increase in the passenger traffic is the major factor causing the increases in some environmental impacts. However, the economic advantage of directing relocation of logistics and wholesaling companies to the eastern Ring Road III area. 158

159 FINAL REPORT cityfreight 5.9. Municipal Logistics Centre, Tampere The city of Tampere is planning a municipal logistics centre, which will be in charge of developing and co-ordinating municipal logistics of the city. The logistics centre will consist of a central warehousing and terminal unit as well as a transport unit. City s ERP system is currently at its development stage and will be used to manage also logistics information. The aim of the municipal distribution centre is to direct a major share of the deliveries from suppliers to the terminal. The consignments to different facilities will be combined and delivered following a fixed timetable. Also, the centre can possibly act as a node of city s internal goods flows. The logistics centre is expected to enhance more efficient logistics through centralising logistics management as well as reducing overlapping operations, which are commonly found in the present logistics system. Efficiency brings cost savings through better usage of warehousing and vehicle capacity. In the future, possible regional logistics cooperation brings further saving potential. This initiative is transferable to any city since the main idea is to manage municipal logistics from a holistic point of view. How and to which extend an actual municipal logistics centre would be developed, depends on the city in question. Since a logistics centre requires comprehensive changes in logistics operations and management, the centre must be planned and build in several stages, where experiences in one stage can be taken into consideration in other stages Risö Land Transport Centre, Vasaa The city of Vaasa is developing an area for land transport functions in the Risö area just next to the newest business park, Vaasa Airport Park. Risö is located near Runsor and Vanha Vaasa industrial areas where is no residential settlement. In vicinity to the centre there is also an area designated for offices and other business premises. The new terminal area is aimed to tempt logistics companies to relocate from the Vaskiluoto Island, which would decrease through-traffic of goods vehicles in the town centre. The Risö land terminal area provides fast connections to the airport and road network as well as space to expand. Land transport centre enables also consolidation of deliveries. However, it is finally companies decision in what extension they want to cooperate. At the moment, the terminal area, its traffic arrangements, connections to highways as well as plantings are being planned. There are a number of companies, which have already expressed their interest to locate in the area. The city of Vaasa is the owner of the land and is responsible for planning and implementation of the terminal area and its highway connections. Relocating of facilities is a long process and requires series of discussions between different actors. If companies are reluctant to relocate, the city needs to prove the benefits of the new location and involve the companies in the planning processes. Often moving of one company into a new area attracts other companies to relocate. 159

160 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Goods delivery in urban centre by using electric vehicles, La Rochelle The project origin is a political decision from the mayor of La Rochelle done during the The city, without my car specific day. Initially there was no studies or real approaches of the goods transportation and delivery problems in the urban centre but only the political decision to use electric cars. Started in 1998, the project tries to associate an urban loading / unloading platform with the use of electric cars for the delivery in the city centre. Currently the main objectives are: to make easier the delivery activities in order to contribute to the city centre development; to advantage clean vehicles; to ameliorate the road network use by all the transport users; to ease congestion and struggle against the city pollution. As it was the initial objective of the project, the solution is essentially based on the use of electric vehicles and the development of an inter urban loading/unloading platform closed to the railways station. A private operator manages the platform with a direct support from the local authorities. At the beginning, it was planed a project financial balance by the end of the year Currently it is not the case and the experimental phase with the local authorities support and subsidiaries is extended through We don t have clear and exploitable data on the project evaluation. The initiative of this project comes from a political decision and the choice of a technical solution without a clear study of the problems. The correct way must be in the opposite problem approach. Find and define technical solutions in order to answer to identified needs and problems Chronocity, Strasbourg The main project objectives is to develop and test in the city of Strasbourg in a first stage then in other large towns a new concept of delivering and picking goods in urban centre by using electrical trolley. Chronopost International launched this project with the support of the Strasbourg Urban Community. The project started in the end of year The first evaluation was done in Strasbourg. This experiment was done by using only one vehicle assuming the link between the Chronopost agency and the delivery point in the city where the Chronocity trolley was loaded. Complementary tests were done in Bordeaux and Paris. Currently some new vehicles and chronocity delivery points are bring into service in Bordeaux, Montpellier, Lille, Avignon, Clermont ferrand et Strasbourg. An economic, social and environmental study was done in The results are said as very encouraging, but as we do not have access to these results, it is difficult to give an 160

161 FINAL REPORT cityfreight objective advice on the real advantages, benefits or eventual problems link to this solution. This project does not take into account globally the logistic activity and the freight transportation and delivery problems in a dense urban zone. It is mainly based on the change of vehicle and limited adaptation of the transport chain. This kind of approach generally does not allow economical solutions in front of the current and existing situation. In an other way, it is a proprietary solution and it seems that a few number of the actors theoretically concerned are involved. This situation, where there is only one potential winner doesn t seems very compatible with the satisfaction and the solution of problems involving a large amount of actors Urban logistic, Strasbourg The urban community of Strasbourg initiated the project. The initial partners were the French transport ministry (Predit/Ademe) and the French railways (SNCF). The objectives are: to reduce the air pollution and the noise; to save land space by increasing the efficiency of the logistic activity; to Struggle against the heavy trucks going through the city; to create the bases for an evolution of the current or planned platforms to multiservice ones. The project was divided in two main steps: Step 1: Multiservice freight platform feasibility study. Step 2: Development and experimentation. The first step started in The feasibility study was done, and, as we known, not disseminated. Currently the project seems to be stopped. The initial methods and methodology for the project definition seems to be well adapted, but the few number of involved actors (the only partner of the city of Strasbourg was the SNCF) and the missing of a well identified management and leading organisation (mainly due to political priorities evolutions) with clear and well defined objectives don t allow its correct life and progress. The project is currently in a sleeping phase and there is a potentiality to use the feasibility study already done and start a new project with objectives coming from the results of this study. This needs a real political decision and the involvement of the most actors as possible and realistic Proximity Delivery Areas, Bordeaux The proximity delivery areas (ELP- Espace de Livraison de Proximité) are dedicated delivery points preliminary integrated in the tramway construction site of Bordeaux. In 161

162 cityfreight FINAL REPORT these areas, the carrier company found some spaces, well-adapted professional workers and specific small equipment for the final delivery to (or picking from) the grocers. This project was mainly motivated by the necessity to solve the problem coming with the tramway construction in Bordeaux. Due to the success of this initiative is it now foreseen the possibility to extend this concept and to use it not only during the construction time but also after the tramway bring on service. At the exception of the necessity to find a solution during the tramway construction phase, we will find now the common objectives coming from the freight activities in the city centre as: decrease the air pollution and the noise; facilitate (and mainly allows) the delivery and picking activity in dense urban areas; decrease the transport vehicles number; optimize, or at least, ameliorate the land and space use. The current results seem very good and encouraging. The localisation of the EPL site was changed with success in the accordance with the construction evolution. A second ELP was opened in June 2004 and an experiment time extension of two years has been launched in the same time. As conclusion, and taking into account the current success of this initiative, we can see that this kind of very large constructions and deep city structures evolutions are good opportunities that can be used to initiate durable evolution and behaviour changes for all the involved actors in the urban freight activities Urban road pricing for freight, Milano Over the past few years, Italy s Local Administrations, including the Municipality of Milan, have heightened their focus on the problem of urban goods distribution, driven by both the sensitivity of the population to environmental problems (noise and environmental pollution, etc.) and the increase in the demand for more efficient transport systems supported by the interested parties (traders, transport companies, freight associations, and the like). That situation has led the City of Milan to recently implement a number of vetoes and restrictions aimed at reducing urban congestion and pollution, in particular, that caused by benzene and PM10 (micro-particles). The first restrictions were imposed in November 2001 and concern on one side the transit of vehicles longer than seven metres within the Navigli ring, and on the other side the transit and parking in the area between the Navigli and the Bastioni ring. Successively, on 28 February 2002, the City of Milan imposed a no-entry and no-parking ban from 07:30h to 21:00h on TIRs in the residential areas of the city. The latest order regulates starting 24 March the loading and unloading of goods in the area inside the Bastioni ring, restricting such activities to between 10:30h and 14:00h and between 19:00h to 07:30h of the following day. Currently under discussion is the possibility of introducing an entry ticket to the area within the Bastioni ring. A toll that, if implemented, aims to reduce the introduction of vehicles by 15% at peak times, but which, on the other hand, could lead to a reduction in business volumes for offices and commercial centres. 162

163 FINAL REPORT cityfreight In addition, the study proposes medium to long-term interventions of an infrastructure and organisational-functional nature. We assume that the first of these will consist of: the possibility of strengthening the logistics platforms (interports and intermodal hubs); the physical separation, where possible, of commercial traffic from private traffic; the construction of parking areas for the exclusive use of goods vehicles. The evaluation of this initiative is still under implementation Urban distribution and sorting waste centre with electric vehicles, Genoa The City of Genoa is getting ready to introduce a new system of urban distribution, which aims to reduce the number of vehicles in circulation and replace the older vehicles with less air and noise pollutant vehicles. The project calls for the identification of an area to allocate to the intermodal centre (CIM), where all the goods arriving in the historical centre will be collected, before being forwarded to destination using electrical vehicles. Activities connected to the delivery of goods outward bound from the historical centre will be carried out using similar procedures: the products will be taken to the CIM by electrical vehicles where they will be collected for delivery by external professional carriers. An analysis of the freight-distribution transportation demand and supply market enabled us to determine the required size of the CIM, the number of vehicles, and the size of the workforce. The CIM needs to extend across 2,200 2,400 square metres, 1,000-1,200 square metres of which covered and built close to the Historical Centre; the electrical vehicles needed amount to 30 in two diverse size and capacity ranges to meet the diverse demand requirements; the workforce adds up to 42, 30 of which drivers. Estimates indicate that the number of daily shipments will be about 1,800 for 245 business days per year; the initial investment will total just over 2.5 million. In terms of the management of the CIM, three solutions are being examined: concession to private subjects, consortium companies assigned the concession by tender; public-sector management, through the incorporation of a company in which the City will be the majority shareholder; mixed public-private company, in which the Public Administration will be responsible for planning and control and the carriers responsible for operational management. Another hypothesis evaluated is that of operating an auxiliary service, entailing the recovery and recycling of used materials, such as cartons, plastic, etc., in parallel to the distribution activity. This service would not only enhance the quality of life in the area in question, but also could provide a good opportunity for the CIM to increase its revenues. The pilot phase of the project will cover a smaller area, denominated Demo, which will involve solely 17% of total commercial activities and 20% of the whole historical centre. The evaluation of this initiative is still under implementation. 163

164 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Suburban eco-logistic hub with cooperation agreements between the Municipality and the freight operators, Vicenza Goods distribution in the city of Vicenza is regulated and access to historical centre areas are permitted only at certain times: in the morning between 07:00h and 09:00h and in the afternoon between 14:00h and 16:00h. A further distinction is made according to the size and volume of the vehicles used. Indeed, vehicles of 2.5 metres or less with a capacity of 7.5 tons or less are allowed to enter the historical centre without restrictions during the permitted hours, while transporters using vehicles of larger dimensions must apply for a special permit indicating not only the time, but also the area in which the vehicle can park for unloading. The City does not want simply to impose parking and circulation vetoes and restrictions, but identify innovative measures based on maximising the usage capacity of the vehicles in circulation and minimising their number. Additionally, Vicenza is building an ecologistic hub, slated for completion by the end of 2002, where it will reorganise the goodsdistribution system in a logistically efficient way, in order to reduce the environmental impact of these activities -- and, as a result, the disturbance caused to residents -- and to ensure sustainable growth. The hub will be constructed outside the city and will serve not only the provincial capital, but also the bordering municipalities and be managed by a mixed public-private company, which will also ask the industry associations to participate. A survey made indicates a potential user basin of 5,238 commercial units, made up mostly of clothing shops, bars, and food services. The consumers who stand to reap the rewards of this new goods-distribution hub are the residents of the whole Province, in particular those who need to travel on a daily basis, as well as seasonal tourist flows. The implementation of a logistics hub will mean revising the current urban distribution system, characterised by a lack of observation of the time bands reserved for the loading and unloading of goods, which causes traffic congestion and disturbances for both operators and trades people. Preliminary research to date indicates that the hub must measure between 6,000 and 7,000, of which 2,000 square metres covered. The interventions envisaged include the purchase of vehicles with low pollution output (powered by LPG, natural gas or electricity) and the equipment needed for moving goods, the adoption of information systems to support the management of flows, the training of hub personnel, and, lastly, structural interventions on the road grid, such as the construction of preferential lanes. The project calls for the use of a 35-strong transportation fleet, made up of vehicles suitable for the type of load and access characteristics of the various areas. The evaluation is still under implementation Cooperation agreements on distribution and waste collection, The Hague In 2002 the local outlet owners of a certain part of the city centre of the Hague have called on the local authorities for assistance since they increasingly experienced hindrance from urban freight distribution and waste collection. An analysis of problems pointed out that the following issues characterised this area: fragmented freight and waste flows; 164

165 FINAL REPORT cityfreight lack of tuning of demand and supply in waste supply and collection; hindrance from freight vehicles and decrease of quality of life; residual waste; time windows combined with opening hours of shops result in short period of time in which distribution vehicles can deliver their goods; limited number of loading and unloading locations. Public and private organisations (local authorities, outlet owner organisations, retail branche organisation Hoofd Bedrijfsschap Detailhandel, the Dutch Shippers Organisation EVO, Chambers of Commerce, Platform on Urban Freight Distribution, branche organisation for transport companies TLN, and KNV and an organisation to prevent and remove residual waste on the streets: Stichting Nederland Schoon) have therefore set up an organisation in order to diminish the problems experienced. The objective of the initiative is to improve the quality of life (living, working, shopping, recreating) and to improve the freight flow in the city. In order to achieve the objectives an organisational solution has been set up in which agreements on behaviour have been made with all the actors involved in urban freight distribution and waste collection. Some examples: outlet owners do not place any objects (advertising material, flower boxes, terraces a.o.) outside that can cause hindrance to delivering vehicles before the ending of the time windows; delivering vehicles park behind eachother (on one side of the road) and not next to eachother. The voluntary rules were defined in consensus and distributed to the potential participants. A newsletter supports the communication on the objectives, rules and results to all actors involved. Each actor is held responsible for their contribution to the problems and solutions. Instead of implementing new regulations or laws, the actors involved are activated to stimulate their colleagues to participate and to speak up to colleagues or other actors who's behaviour is not in line with the rules. A first evaluation (March 2004) has pointed out positive results. Actors understand eachother ('s problems and interests) better, the participation grade is relatively high and the freight flow has improved. This all according to the actors who have been questioned 9 months after the start of the project A collective contract for waste collection, The Hague The problem diagnosis of this initiative and the organisational structure (public and private organisations working together) are the same as that of Cooperation Agreements, described above. The fragmentation of waste collection is central to the problem. The objectives of this initiative are: improving the quality of life (living, working, shopping, recreating) by decreasing the level of hindrance caused by distribution vehicles and waste collection vehicles; improved transport efficiency; 165

166 cityfreight FINAL REPORT improved cost/ quality levels of transport providers and waste collectors to retailoutlets; reducing negative effects (emission, noise, nuisance, accessibility). This initiative aims at a change in the present situation in which 7 waste collectors have clients in an area of around 300 retail outlets. Each waste collectors visits each client several times a week to collect different types of waste (paper, residual waste, plastic). Ideally one collector (monopoly development is avoided by tendering and a division of areas among waste collectors) per area should be responsible for waste collection. That way, transport efficiency is raised, less vehicle movements are needed, waste collectors do not hinder each other and cause less hindrance to the public and other road users, and because the transport efficiency raises, costs of waste collection for the outlet owners may even drop. In November 2003 a feasibility study has been performed. This initiative is being implemented at the moment by organising a collective contract among outlet owners with one waste collector. One major bottleneck to overcome is that waste collectors are interested only if the chance for a substantial number of clients is guaranteed and outlet owners are only interested when it is guaranteed that the costs within a new contract do not rise (better; if they fall). However, the number of future members and the cost level is insecure. In other words: the future benefits and drawbacks are not sure/ visible/ quantifiable. This is needed to convince people to participate Consolidation from the demand side (cooperation agreements), The Hague The problem diagnosis of this initiative and the organisational structure (public and private organisations working together) are the same as that of Cooperation Agreements, described above. The objectives of this initiative are: improving the quality of life (living, working, shopping, recreating) by decreasing the level of hindrance caused by distribution vehicles and waste collection vehicles; improving the transport efficiency; improving the cost/ quality levels of transport providers and waste collectors to retailoutlets; reducing negative effects (emission, noise, nuisance, accessibility). The basic idea is to start a pilot in which a group of outlet owners, shippers and transport companies agree on bringing back the number deliveries in a certain area to a limited amount of days per week. An example is given in the box below. 166

167 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Box: Example of consolidation from the demand side Present situation Jewellery outlet A in the main shopping street orders one parcel per week from its shipper X, the goods are delivered every week on Tuesday Jewellery outlet B, also in the main shopping street, orders one parcel per week from shipper X, the goods are delivered every week on Thursday. Result: the transport company hired by shipper X delivers twice a week in the same street on two different days New situation Jeweller A and B order the same quantity each week, but asks their shipper to have the goods delivered on Wednesday. The two boxes are now delivered by the same vehicle on one day by the transport company that shipper X hires. Result: the transport company hired by shipper X only has to visit this street ones a week with 2 boxes in one vehicle. Per branch (fashion, catering industry etc.) a voluntary agreement is defined in consensus and signed by all participating companies to reorganise the system of ordering and delivering. Since this initiative has just started, no results are known at this moment, but the expectations are high among the participants and if it proves to be successful, than it will be spread over other branches and parts of the city Urban Distribution Centre, Malaga The idea developed in Malaga is an initiative that could be implemented in the cities with the same characteristics. The main characteristic is an important historic centre with narrow streets and high level of movements of people and freights. This type of city centre is very common in the old cites of Europe. The problems within these areas is one of the most important headaches for the municipalities in Europe, because they are the areas with more congestion and traffic problems. And on the other hand the city centres are the tourist attraction for the cities and pedestrianisation makes the city more interesting for the tourists. But with this pedestrianisation, the problems of the delivery increases. The solution of Malaga (electric vehicles for the delivery) is a clean and useful solution and easy to apply in other towns. The main difficulty, solved in Malaga, is to get the agreement of all the agents involved in the freight delivery Preston, Tithebarn development, construction traffic consolidation centre The future for Preston is viewed as one of promoting the City as a retail and leisure centre. The beginning of this process has been the development of a Master Plan for the development of the Tithebarn Regeneration Area. This plan combines a mix of leisure facilities; shopping; business and living space in one complex. There are short-term implications for the levels of traffic that would be coming in and out of the area during the construction phase and longer-term implications for the management of traffic generated to and from such a large multi-functional area. 167

168 cityfreight FINAL REPORT The Tithebarn project will in and of itself generate construction freight traffic for the duration of the building work. If this is to continue for a five-year period then it will make a significant impact on the Ring Way for the duration. Whilst much construction traffic is of fully laden vehicles, some products are shipped on part loads. A distribution centre just outside of the main centre consolidating loads, co-ordinating traffic flows into the site, and providing storage for products susceptible to theft could lessen the traffic impact of the construction site, reduce the environmental impact and improve contractor security. This approach was followed successfully in Stockholm and merits consideration. The objectives are to: reduce traffic, congestion and emissions impact and allow sustainable development of Tithebarn area; reduce theft of building materials and therefore costs to developers and contractors. As has been used at the HammarbySjostad development in Stockholm and at the Potsdam Square development in Berlin, an Urban Transhipment Centre (UTC) or a 'Baulog' is proposed. Essentially the proposed initiative is designed to divert vehicles with partial loads from accessing the site directly but divert them to a transhipment centre located strategically away from the site. From there materials and goods are transhipped to vehicles and shipped to site, ensuring fuller loads, higher utilisation, lower traffic levels, less congestion, and fewer emissions. The proposed scheme will also act as a secure facility for materials and goods. Previous schemes have reported substantial reductions in theft of materials from developments using a UTC/baulog. The work was evaluation only. The evaluation of the initiative will evaluate the cost/benefit of a UTC as both the external costs in terms of emissions, congestion, noise, traffic. This will be done using the proposed standardised tools detailed in WP2. The evaluation will also provide a simple internal cost/benefit analysis, offsetting the reduction of stolen materiel against the cost of running a UTC Zero State Model Using expert knowledge from LCC and Preston City Council, a zero state model of the Ringway and Tithebarn area will be built. Preferably this would be a traffic count of vehicles. From this a zero state level of impacts (see above) can be built Do Nothing Model Using expert knowledge from developers, the HammarbySjostad managers, and empirical observation of similar developments in the UK, a model of likely vehicle movements will be built for the Tithebarn development. This will produce a do nothing level of impacts. Using expert advice a level of losses due to theft and damage will also be estimated % and 75% UTC Models A model will then be built assuming that all vehicles with 50% utilisation are rerouted to a UTC. This will then be adjusted to assume that all vehicles with 75% utilisation are rerouted. Impacts and losses will then be evaluated, as will a simple cost model for running such a centre. 168

169 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Analysis, Conclusions and Recommendations The four models will be compared, an external and internal cost/benefit analysis made. Conclusions will be drawn and recommendations will be made with the help of and to Preston City Council, developers and parties identified by PCC. Such recommendations will take into consideration the wider economic and social benefits of regeneration and not a single focus on traffic or emissions Conclusions on initiatives The City Freight project aimed at finding initiatives and solutions which can be considered innovative and successful in the realisation of sustainable urban freight transport. The solutions reported here cannot always be considered especially innovative or successful. However, this state-of-the-art of the initiatives is a starting point for understanding the development needs in city freight distribution and the possibilities that different sets of initiatives may offer. In many cities, the difficulty in implementing suitable solutions has not really arisen from a lack of innovativeness in the measures but rather from a lack of knowledge about the present situation and an inability to estimate the impacts of measures in complex transport and traffic systems. On the other hand, the cities that have already implemented measures have encountered numerous problems, such as high expenses and resistance either from inhabitants or businesses. These difficulties have lead to further development of initiatives and innovations. The state-of-the-art also provides information on the latest development work being carried out in the partner countries. The success often depends on numerous city specific factors. The measurement of the impacts is a very complex exercise. Therefore there is only limited information available on the impacts of the described initiatives. A great number of initiatives have also been implemented rather recently and this might be the reason for the absence of estimates concerning their impacts. The tremendous growth in traffic volumes and thus environmental impacts have obliged the authorities to impose traffic restrictions which can be implemented in a short time and usually without major investments. However, on the long term such restrictions may have countereffects, such as forcing stores to move outside city centres. The cities may introduce a stick and carrot approach and for example provide urban distribution centres or adequate unloading spaces when imposing traffic restrictions. The assurance of fluidity of distribution traffic ensures the adherence to regulations. The lack of interaction between public and private actors and deficiencies in goods traffic planning indicate that there is a need for public-private co-operation. However, such forums have only been established in a few cases. Further, it is recognised that horizontal and vertical level co-operation is needed in supply chains. New applications of information and communication technology for logistics have constantly emerged during the past years and this trend is expected to continue in the future. The first column of the table below summarises the problems and development needs in city freight distribution that were reported by the City Freight countries and case cities. The second column contains the initiatives that have been used or are going to be used to solve or at least ease the problems mentioned. These initiatives have not only been reported by the partners but other sources of information (mainly other EU projects) have also been used. As mentioned before, in many cases combinations of solutions have 169

170 cityfreight FINAL REPORT been used to tackle the problems. For example, freight traffic restrictions may be accompanied with designated unloading or parking places for goods vehicles. It is also necessary to use combined measures in those cases where the aim is to satisfy the needs of the actors representing the aspects used in this report (operational and economic efficiency, environmental aspects, land and infrastructure use, policy and regulative environment as well as technological advancement). There is no single solution which could directly improve the conditions for each of these. An example of a set of measures affecting different aspects is establishing of an ecologistics hub in Vicenza, Italy. The hub will be placed outside the city, thus reducing inconvenience to residential areas and enabling it also to serve the neighbouring municipalities. New traffic lanes for freight traffic will be constructed to allow fast connections. Environmentally friendly vehicles (powered by LPG, natural gas or electricity) will be purchased for deliveries of goods. Information systems and training for hub personnel will be developed to ensure efficient logistics management and operations of the hub s goods flows. Forums for co-operation and information and communications technology are valuable tools, which can be combined with other measures for enhancing the different approaches of city freight distribution. Co-operative forums for private and public actors provide a setting for discussing the aspects of each approach and therefore enhance developing a set of measures which are both operationally, economically, environmentally and socially efficient and acceptable. Information and communication technology provides efficient tools for the interaction between different actors (business actors and authorities). The ICT enables the planning of optimal transports and other logistics functions so that the constraints set by the authorities (such as access restrictions) or, on the other hand, real time information provided by the intelligent traffic management systems can be easily taken in consideration. 170

171 FINAL REPORT Problems and development needs Congestion in town centres Scarcity of space in town centres (especially in historical ones) Reduced accessibility to towns or premises Environmental impacts Emissions Noise Safety risks Lack of on-street or off-street unloading places for delivery vehicles Lack of parking places for goods vehicles Violation of parking and access cityfreight Initiatives (implemented, planned or suggested) Consolidation of deliveries, Urban distribution centres Off peak and night deliveries Access and parking restrictions (based on time of the day, vehicle weight, length, capacity usage, destination) Dedicated routes for freight traffic in the cities Usage of bus lanes for freight traffic Dedicated lanes for freight traffic on highways Development of bypass roads and ring roads Increased capacity in traffic bottlenecks Underground delivery Usage of alternative transport modes (river boats, trains, trams, metro, pipelines, bicycles) Reduction of passenger traffic (public transports, home deliveries and deliveries to collection points) Intelligent traffic management systems Usage of vans or bicycles in deliveries Underground distribution Flexible and widened time windows Harmonisation of regulations (at city/region/country/int l level) Long term stability of regulations in order to allow time for developing new technologies to cope with the regulations Integration of regulations with information policies and investments Awareness programs and codes of behaviour Restricting access of goods vehicles above certain tonnage, age or emission level Reverse logistics Usage of environmentally friendly fuels Promotion of alternative transport modes (rail, waterway, bicycles) Promotion of intermodal transports (facilities, documentation) Electric or gas vehicles Low noise vehicles, surfaces, cargo handling equipment and techniques, packaging concepts Restricting night deliveries and access to residential areas Rerouting of freight traffic Relocation of logistics and industrial activities Underground deliveries Routing of dangerous goods traffic Development of vehicle designs Collision warning systems Designated unloading places for delivery vehicles Taking delivery requirements into account in town planning and building permit processes Guidelines for studying and planning unloading space needs Intelligent Parking Management System Van and truck design allowing fast unloading/loading (lateral doors, low floor) Unloading and loading equipment Designated parking areas Intelligent parking management systems Simplification and (city/region/country level) 171

172 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Problems and development needs restrictions Fragmented and frequent deliveries Poor unloading conditions Urban freight traffic neglected in town and traffic planning Lack of co-operation and exchange of information between public and private actors Distribution of e-trade purchases Variety in traffic regulations Lack of information concerning urban freight traffic Market demands (customer tailoring, low price level, speed) Initiatives (implemented, planned or suggested) harmonisation of regulations Support of restrictions by positive initiatives such as information and investments Checking the consistency of regulations with other relevant factors influencing urban traffic (other public measures) and market driven development Entry poles, access cards and certificates Improved law enforcement and surveillance (cameras) Adequate and clear signalling and guidance Consolidation of shipments Urban distribution centres Nominated day and time deliveries Restricted access of vehicles with low loading percentage Usage of ICT applications in logistics planning and operations Freight traffic needs to be taken into account in planning and granting building permits Urban freight policies and strategies Planning guideline manuals Research on the topic Co-operative forums Urban transport policies and programs Urban transport studies Collection points and boxes (both for private and business customers) Allowing deliveries in the evenings Harmonisation in regulations (access restrictions based on time and vehicle characteristics, standards) Studies, surveys, workshops Development of databases and statistics Development of urban traffic models Best practise dissemination ICT applications in production and logistics planning and operations (warehousing, transportation) Standardisation of loading units Co-operation of companies Infrastructure development Company subsidies to improve transport efficiency Van and truck design (lowered floors) Sources: City Freight national annex reports, EU projects mentioned in Table 1, OECD Working Group on Urban Freight Transport (2002) 172

173 6. MAPPING URBAN FREIGHT DISTRIBUTION INITIATIVES A SELECTION SUPPORT TOOL 6.1. Introduction The aim of this chapter is twofold. It is first to offer a synoptic overview of the range of solutions available to decision-makers and other interested parties coping with urban freight traffic and distribution problems. It is also meant to serve as a selection support tool for those looking for relevant sources of inspiration in their search for concrete solutions to such problems. The typology used here to present the solutions/scenarios studied throughout the CITY FREGHT project is based on four tables categorising these scenarios according to different criteria: The results achieved by each of the solutions tested/implemented, The approaches followed in each scenario, The kind of policy instrument(s) that were used, And the stakeholders directly or indirectly affected by each scenario. Where appropriate, these classifications have also been used to grade on a simple qualitative scale the various scenarios assessed in the framework of CITY FREIGHT ( at a certain time, in a certain place ). This applies to the results-based and stakeholdersbased categorisations (tables) A typology of CITY FREIGHT scenarios Results-based categorization of CITY FREIGHT initiatives The first table below provides an overview of the most common results achieved (often linked to the main goals pursued) by urban freight distribution initiatives. Il also indicates to what extent the different scenarios analysed in the framework of City Freight contribute to the achievement of these results. Not all stakeholders attribute the same importance to these results or to the corresponding goals (emissions, noise, infrastructure damage, safety, economics..). The priority of transporters is understandably to lower their costs and to fulfil their primary mission as efficiently as possible. The general public, by contrast, is likely to be more concerned about noise and emissions. Some of the results mentioned are strongly correlated (for example, a city that wants to tackle traffic emissions will often also lower the noise levels and infrastructure damage on its territory as these two results are also strongly linked to congestion levels. Some other results are more often than not conflicting with one another. The ratings given to each scenario for each of the results listed in the table are indicative of the level of success achieved or estimated in the case studies performed under City Freight.

174 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Table 46: Results-based categorisation of CITY FREIGHT initiatives Scenario Implemented City Emission Noise Infrastructure damage Safety Economical Logistical (transport efficiency) Belgium Cargo Tram-train Brussels Urban Distribution and Storage Centre with electric vehicles Promoting rail solutions for freight transport to and from Brussels Rail transport to the European Centre for Fruits and vegetables Shopping and e-commerce facilities at commuter rail stations Brussels Brussels Brussels Brussels Finland Retail Delivery Stations Brussels Underground service tunnel Helsinki Logistics Centre between the harbour and the airport Helsinki Municipal Logistics Centre Tampere The Risö Land Transport Centre Vaasa France Goods delivery in urban centre by using electric car La Rochelle Chronocity Strasbourg Urban logistic Strasbourg Proximity delivery areas Bordeaux Italy Urban road pricing for freight Milano N.I. - The Netherlands Urban distribution and sorting waste centre with electric vehicles Suburban eco-logistic hub with cooperation agreements between the Municipality and the freight operators Cooperation agreements on distribution and waste collection Genova Vicenza N.I. - The Hague + + A collective waste contract The Hague Consolidation from the demand side The Hague Spain Data Collection Initiative Valladolid Urban Distribution Centre Malaga UK Tithebarn development, construction traffic consolidation centre Preston very positive; + positive; 0 positive/ negative; - negative; - - very negative; N.I. No information 174

175 FINAL REPORT cityfreight As far as the Finnish initiatives are concerned, the amount of emission or noise level does not necessarily change but the exposure to emissions or noise will change. The scales of given impact levels should be harmonised between different countries, since some of the measures may have very notable changes but only at very local level (for example within a quarter of the city centre) whereas some measures may have less notable impacts but at wider area Approaches-based categorisation of CITY FREIGHT initiatives The approaches-based categorization of initiatives might also have an important role to play in the selection of urban freight distribution initiatives. Indeed, the approaches presented in this second table are highly diverse and require different resources, competences, legal and institutional frameworks, etc. Depending on the size of the problem facing urban freight decision-makers, on the time and budget available to them, and on the relationship between public authorities and the rest of the stakeholders, one approach could be more relevant than the others. Other stakeholders too might have strong opinions on the approach to follow depending on their own situation (time, budget, regulatory constraints, ) Regulatory solutions are the exclusive domain of public authorities, whereas operational, organizational and technical solutions may be of interest to other stakeholders as well. 175

176 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Table 47: Approaches-based categorisation of CITY FREIGHT initiatives Country Initiative City Technical solution Organisational solution Operational solution Regulatory solution Belgium Cargo Tram-train Brussels X X Urban Distribution and Storage Centre with electric vehicles Brussels X X X X Promoting rail solutions for freight transport to and from Brussels Brussels X Rail transport to the European Centre for Fruits and vegetables Brussels X Shopping and e-commerce facilities at commuter rail stations Brussels X X Retail Delivery Stations Brussels X X X X Finland Underground service tunnel Helsinki X X Logistics Centre between the harbour and the airport Helsinki X X Municipal Logistics Centre Tampere X X The Risö Land Transport Centre Vaasa X X France Goods delivery in urban centre by using electric car La Rochelle X Chronocity Strasbourg X Urban logistic Strasbourg X Proximity delivery areas Bordeaux X Italy Urban road pricing for freight Milano X Urban distribution and sorting waste centre with electric vehicles Genova X Suburban eco-logistic hub with cooperation agreements between the Municipality and the freight operators Vicenza X The Netherlands Cooperation agreements on distribution and waste collection The Hague X A collective waste contract The Hague X Consolidation from the demand side The Hague X Spain Data Collection Initiative Valladolid X Urban Distribution Centre Malaga X UK Tithebarn development, construction traffic consolidation centre Preston X 176

177 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Policies-based categorisation of CITY FREIGHT initiatives The third table provides yet a narrower categorisation of the scenarios developped and assessed in the framework of Cityfreight. Cities or any other stakeholder could look at this table for a quick overview of the kinds of policies that have been tested in City Freight. The range of solutions presented here will almost certainly include a few initiatives that could be adapted to any city, according to its spatial and socio-economic configuration. Nevertheless, some scenarios require highly specific infrastructures (railtracks, canal, etc.) that could sometimes make their implementation in a different environment difficult or impossible. 177

178 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Tableau 48: Policies-based categorisation of CITY FREIGHT initiatives Spatial Vertical Temporal Initiative City Urban planning and design New infrastructure Modal-shift to cleaner mode) Traffic segregation Load consolidation "Consumer logistic initiatives" Coordination actions and cooperation agreements "clean" road vehicles Cargo Tram-train Brussels X X X Urban Distribution and Storage Centre with electric vehicles Brussels X X X X Promoting rail solutions for freight transport to & from Brussels Brussels X X Rail transport to the European Centre for Fruits and vegetables Brussels X X Shopping and e-commerce facilities at commuter rail stations Brussels X X X Retail Delivery Stations Brussels X X X Underground service tunnel Helsinki X X X Logistics Centre between the harbour and the airport Helsinki X X X X Municipal Logistics Centre Tampere X X The Risö Land Transport Centre Vaasa X X X Goods delivery in urban centre using electric cars La Rochelle X X X X Chronocity Strasbourg X X X X Urban logistic Strasbourg X X Proximity delivery areas Bordeaux X X Urban road pricing for freight Milano X X X X Urban distribution and sorting waste centre with electric vehicles Genova X X X X Suburban eco-logistic hub with cooperation agreements between Municipality and freight operators Vicenza X X X X Cooperation agreements on distribution and waste collection The Hague X X A collective waste contract The Hague X X X Consolidation from the demand side The Hague X X Data Collection Initiative Valladolid Urban Distribution Centre Malaga X X X Tithebarn development, construction traffic consolidation centre Preston X X X 178

179 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Stakeholders-based categorisation of CITY FREIGHT initiatives People involved in or concerned with urban freight distribution belong to only a handful of stakeholder categories. The stakeholders can be associated with two important groups: those playing an active role in the transport chain and those affected by but not directly involved in urban logistics. The latter group is primarily made up of the general public (comprising residents, tourists, the urban work force, etc.), businesses (hotels, restaurants and cafés, retail outlets, builders, contractors and other service providers, etc.) and public authorities. Note that businesses are often also either shippers or receivers (see below). And they are not the only ones. All of the above stakeholders contribute to some extent to the demand for goods in the city and therefore command urban goods flows. But very often, they are also negatively affected by deliveries and consequently have demands that sometimes conflict with them. The actors active in the transport chain consist on the one-hand of consignees/receivers (businesses, public authorities, building sites), who demand goods, and on the other hand, of producers/shippers, who supply goods. Between those two groups, transporters and logistics providers deliver goods. This fourth table is critical in deciding which elements to include in a new urban freight distribution initiative. Indeed, it is a precious source of information on the possible conflicts of interests that might arise from the implementation of a given initiative. 179

180 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Table 49: Stakeholders-based categorisation of CITY FREIGHT initiatives: benefits/ drawbacks per stakeholder category Country Belgium Scenario Implemented City Cargo Tram-train Brussels Public Local authorities/ government Receivers Shippers Transport providers/ operators Urban Distribution and Storage Centre with electric vehicles Brussels Promoting rail solutions for freight transport to and from Brussels Brussels Rail transport to the European Centre for Fruits and vegetables Brussels Shopping and e-commerce facilities at commuter rail stations Brussels Retail Delivery Stations Brussels Finland Underground service tunnel Helsinki Logistics Centre between the harbour and the airport Helsinki Municipal Logistics Centre Tampere The Risö Land Transport Centre Vaasa France Goods delivery in urban centre by using electric car La Rochelle Chronocity Strasbourg Urban logistic Strasbourg Proximity delivery areas Bordeaux Italy Urban road pricing for freight Milano Urban distribution and sorting waste centre with electric vehicles Genova The Netherlands Suburban eco-logistic hub with cooperation agreements between the Municipality and the freight operators Cooperation agreements on distribution and waste collection (De Schone Stad) Vicenza The Hague A collective waste contract The Hague Consolidation from the demand side The Hague Spain Data Collection Initiative Valladolid Urban Distribution Centre Malaga + ++ UK Tithebarn development, construction traffic consolidation centre Preston very positive; + positive; 0 positive/ negative; - negative; - - very negative 180

181 FINAL REPORT cityfreight 6.3. Best practice selection guidelines There are many different actors involved in urban freight distribution: public authorities, transport providers, shopping public, retail outlet owners etc. As stated before, benefits and drawbacks can differ from one actor to another. An urban freight distribution solution can have a major positive impact on, for instance, the environment but can be very costly at the same time. For public authorities the environmental aspect is very important whereas for shippers and logistic service providers, transport costs tend to be more prevalent. Even when looking for a solution that best meets their goals, regional and local authorities ought to analyse the various scenarios from the perspective of each of the stakeholders groups identified. This is essential because the successful implementation of any new initiative in urban logistics rests on the capacity of its promoters to reconcile the objectives and expectations of all the concerned stakeholders. It is useful to know beforehand, what solutions have what benefits for which categories of actors. If a public authority is planning to implement a certain solution / scenario in a city, aiming at solving a problem caused by urban freight distribution, it can be very helpful to know which actor group is affected in a negative way and which one in a positive way. When this kind of information is available, the initiative envisaged and/or its implementation plan can be adapted so as to compensate the categories of actors negatively impacted. The other tables presented above can be used in much the same way. We suggest the reader/stakeholder to proceed step by step, using each table at a time to figure out which CITY FREIGHT scenarios are most relevant to his or goals, challenges, resources, powers, etc. This approach comes down to using the typologies presented in the previous section as a funnel, as a way to water down the range of possible initiatives in order to short list the most relevant ones as illustrated in the following examples. Alternatively, a short list could consist of all the scenarios identified as potentially interesting based on one to four out of four tables. Example 1: City authorities intend to curb pollution and congestion due to heavy freight traffic in the city centre. Which are the most relevant scenarios given the challenge they are facing? One first selection could be made using the results-based table to eliminate all the scenarios that have a negative impact in terms of pollution or traffic efficiency. After this first stage, the approaches-based table could help the decision maker to make a second choice (in the remaining scenarios) according to the means available to him or her. A third step could consist in using the stakeholders-based categorisation to determine among the remaining candidates those most likely to meet the concerns of all stakeholders, or at least the best compromise. Example 2: Shopkeepers in a city centre are not satisfied with the current urban freight distribution situation due to important delivery problems resulting from heavy congestion. They are asking to the city authorities to find some solutions in order to improve their situation. The four tables could help public authorities to figure out which types of solutions are solutions most likely to satisfy the requirements of shopkeepers. The first step, in this case, could consist in going through the stakeholders table. Are the city authorities inclined to adopt new regulations or does a more consensual approach seem more 181

182 cityfreight FINAL REPORT appropriate? Depending on their answer to this question, the approach table will help eliminate the irrelevant scenarios. Etc. Example 3: A railway operator or any private operator is likely to pursue different objectives with different means than the public authorities. A rail freight carrier, for example, might take a look first at our approach and policy tables to quickly identify which CITY FREIGHT scenarios have pursued a modal shift from road to rail. They might then look at the other characteristics of the selected scenarios to figure out which interventions to request from their authorities and with what arguments, depending on the initiatives they would like to see implemented. The approach described in this section might seem somewhat tortuous to those who have been immersed in urban freight distribution problems for several years or those who have found the time to examine in detail each of the scenarios analysed in the framework of CITY FREIGHT. It is our hope that it will nevertheless allow all the others to more rapidly and more effectively find the best practice and the not so good practice examples in which to look for ideas in the design of their own best practice solution. 182

183 FINAL REPORT cityfreight 7. URBAN FREIGHT DISTRIBUTION PROJECT PLANNING 7.1. Introduction In this chapter, the lessons learned during the analysis of existing urban freight distribution initiatives and the development and implementation of new initiatives in the seven participating countries will be presented. From the start of the CITY FREIGHT Project, one of the main intentions was to develop a decision-support tool to help cities to select the best / most successful initiatives for the problems and challenges they experience. The idea was to transfer the most successful initiatives for a certain problem to cities that face similar problems. During the project, it became clear that the term Best Practice itself requires a broader discussion on what might be considered as Best Practice : A wider not only technology-oriented perspective is necessary. Best Practice cannot be defined for urban freight transport without looking at the entire transport chain, considering spatial constraints. Restrictions imposed in cities might have a strong influence on inter-city flows and even on activities locations at long distances and vice versa. Best or Good Practice could be defined as the customers satisfaction with the highest profit (revenue minus costs). Best Practice also has to consider aspect like environmental protection and natural resources conservation. There is no absolute Best Practice; Best Practice often depends on the framework conditions which can make the transferability of results difficult. It is obvious that the application of advanced techniques in order to successfully improve the urban freight transport is important but by far not the only aspect to be considered. Subsidies and funds which more or less only focus on technological improvements will therefore have only limited outcome if the other two major elements Actors and Urban context are not taken into account in an integrated approach. The most important lessons learned in the CITY FREIGHT project are: The solution chosen for a certain problem related to urban freight distribution influences, and therefore should take into account, the interrelationships that exist between actors, the urban context and the distribution model. There are no best practice solutions for problems related to urban freight, however there are recommendations for a best practice project and process approach. As a result, the best practice guide should not be viewed as a selection of the most successful initiatives in Europe, but as an organised list of initiatives used to lay out the foundations of a general best practice project and process approach for all the cities dealing with any type of urban freight distribution problem. Several times within this document it has been concluded that urban freight distribution systems consist of many interrelations between actors, transport systems and the urban 183

184 cityfreight FINAL REPORT context. For this reason, we find it useful to define urban freight distribution problems as follows: "Drawbacks experienced by one actor in the city or transport chain caused by the behaviour of (an)other actor(s) in the city or transport chain, for whom the behaviour results in benefits, at a certain location at a certain time." A best practice project approach can be described following the main project steps to be taken to come to a sustainable solution (see figure 25). Those steps are further explained in the next sections. Figure 25: Flowchart project steps 7.2. Problem diagnosis Problem settings In most cases, problems arise from the interaction between three pillars : the urban context, the distribution model and the actors. The following figure presents these pillars and their underlying elements, which are all part of the urban freight distribution context. 184

185 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Figure 26: Basic elements used in the description and analysis of urban freight distribution problems Urban context Economics Land use Infrastructure/ traffic / transport Socio-cultural characterics Political setting Safety Environmental issues Distribution Model Transport mode (road, rail, river, air, intermodal) Transport technology and supporting technologies (equipement: vehicles, load unit, packaging) Physical transport organisation (network configuration) Social transport organisation (actors, administration, communication, contractual and financial agreements Actors Urban context Companies / outlet owners Public (residents, visitors, tourists) Employees Local authorities Distribution model Consignees Shippers / producers Transport operators (incl. drivers) Benefits and drawbacks experienced by actors are determined by their objectives, interests, concerns, judgements and sensitivities and the physical space which is characterised by constraints sometimes quite heavy. The reader will find in Annex 2 a non-exhaustive list of concerns, interests, priorities and objectives of actors. It is important to define the system and its problems by means of causal relations and effects, actors involved, the distribution situation and to define the 'external influences' (local, regional, national context including land use, economic situation, culture, politics, environmental issues, transport and infrastructure) on this set of relations in as much detail as possible. This should also be seen as an opportunity to analyse in greater details the links that exist between different drawbacks and benefits, to highlight the vicious or virtuous circle in the system, to pinpoint the conflicts of interests that may exist between different stakeholder groups, etc. The outlet-owners / consignees activate the supply chain with their demand for goods which results in the supply of goods in the city. The direct negative effects (hindrance of vehicles, accessibility problems) are felt by a variety of actors or stakeholders in the urban context: consumers, visitors, tourists, residents, employees. Matters that affect the public are the responsibility of the local authorities. The outlet owners are indirectly confronted with the negative effects of this vehicle flow because hindrance decreases the chance that the potential clientele will stay or return in the shopping area. Although the consuming public is the ultimate cause of the vehicle flows that shippers and outlet owners order and that carriers and logistic service providers deliver, the capping of their negative effects is often seen as the responsibility of the public authorities. 185

186 cityfreight FINAL REPORT Finally the physical space can be represented by a three level classification which is based on a decomposition of the network type (or form of operation ) and on an existing model already developed and applied in similar approaches. Figure 27: Spatial levels SLZ : Singular Local Zone Level 3 IAUZ : IntrA Urban Zone Level 2 Level 1: At this level we will find all the transports facilities that are involved in the inter-region traffic. This means that, normally and without any other considerations, the infrastructures or means of transport used for this purpose don t have in any case to directly interfere with an urban area environment. This level constitutes an inter-city-wide high-quality service with minimum carriage times and haulage costs. At this level we also find the transit Hub in which the goods are exchanged between the level 1 traffic and the others transportation means used for the two other levels. Due to the quasi-exclusive extra-urban activities, excepted, eventually, some transit hub interface with the rest of the urban freight traffic, this level 1 has to be getting rid of the city. 186

187 FINAL REPORT cityfreight Figure 28: Transport networks Long distance/ high volumes IRUZ Level 1 IAUZ Level 2 SLZ Level 3 Short distance / low volumes* *Single parcel Terminal (medium to large) Terminal (small to medium) Terminal (very small) or private siding Hub Local platform Local distribution centre Level 2: This level involves two main traffic aspects : the first one is linked to the transportation of large amount of products to or from Urban Zone platforms, Industrial sites and large distribution centres. In this case the transports facilities are integrally included in the level. the second one address the traffic facilities used to realise exchanges between the levels. Level 3: This level includes all the transportation facilities and infrastructures involved in the loading and delivery activities in or between close Local Zones, often called the last kilometres transportation activity. This part of the logistic chain is deeply integrated to and mixed with the city life. The final users (individual or depot) are located at this level. 187