The evolution of goods transport systems in the mass consumption society Prof. Dr. Richard Vahrenkamp University of Kassel, Germany Workshop Models

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1 The evolution of goods transport systems in the mass consumption society Prof. Dr. Richard Vahrenkamp University of Kassel, Germany Workshop Models of Mobility, York University, Toronto, 24 March 2012

2 Point to point railway cargo traffic in the basic industries Coal mine Railway shuttle many wagons long trains no marshalling operations Power plant

3 Delivery from suppliers to retail stores in the mass consumption society: Structure of many-to-many-networks n Factories n k k Retail stores High number n*k of delivery relations. The German Metro group has 4000 suppliers and 1000 outlets, i.e. 4 million traffic relations. 3.

4 Properties of a many-to-many railway networks Large amount of traffic relations. Many marshalling operations. Many operations with single wagons in the terminals drawn by expensive locomotives. On average the volume of delivery in one relation is low! Better fitted to trucks than to railway wagons with high capacity.

5 Different categories of cargo in the railway logistics In the railway logistics we distinguish freight from basic industries, full wagon load of manufactured goods and less than wagon load of packaged goods. I focus on packaged goods.

6 Explosive growth of packaged goods in the last 110 years

7 Explosive growth of packaged goods in the last 110 years

8 Warehouse of Amazon in England

9 Tragedy of packaged goods traffic Market share of the German railway 1900 till 2000 Percent Railway Truck

10 Abandoned packaged good shed in Berlin Lichtenberg 2010

11 Why lost the train the fight with the motorized truck? We consider arguments at the macro level and micro level.

12 Strong growth of good traffic since 1890 at Berlin s good terminals Overload of the good terminal Permanent investments for expansion of capacity Terminal 1891 Packaged goods 1911 Packaged goods Increase % Increase of wagon laod % Anhalter Bahnhof Hamburg-Lehrter Bahnhof Stettiner Bahnhof Schlesischer Bahnhof Denkschrift: Ist es mit den Interessen von Groß-Berlin vereinbar, die Güterbahnhöfe aus der Innenstadt in die Außenbezirke zu verlegen?; Denkschrift, aufgestellt vom Architekten-Ausschuß Groß-Berlin, Berlin-Grunewald: Burgverlag, 1913

13 Growth of packaged goods in the 1920s Packaged goods increased from 14 million tons in 1925 to 20 million tons in The congestion of the good sheds gave an incentive for shippers to shift from railway to trucks as carriers.

14 Example good terminal Heilbronn. Overload of good terminals In 1893 opened for 750 wagon per day. In 1913 heavy overload of 1600 wagon per day in the autumn peak. Investment problem: A good terminal is an entire entity of infrastructure that can not be enlarged in an incremental manner, as for example an air port or a motorway. So one has a difficult investment strategy to build new remote good terminals for the load removal of the existing good terminals. The German states planned independendly their good terminals without coordination. Luftbild vom Anhalter- und Potsdamer Güterbahnhof 1943 (Quelle: Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung)

15 Micro level: Transshipment of goods is labor intensiv Passanger transportation: the poeple change the trains by themselves. But packaged goods have to be transshipped by laborers. Berlin Ostkreuz 2008 Transshipment hall Bietigheim 1972

16 Transshipment in Sheds Track Shed Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof 2009 Shed Outbound Inbound Quai for carter services 200 m Congestion at shed Berlin Anhalter Bahnhof 1908 Shed Nuremberg 1934

17 Network of 151 marshalling yards for cargo freight

18 65 gigantic transshipment halls for packaged goods throughout Germany Köln-Kalk Magdeburg Wustermark Stettin

19 Labor intensiv transshipment, long distances between 2 platforms The transshipment hall Nuremberg, built 1936 Long distance between two platforms makes transshipment difficult. Painting Gerhard 1936

20 The German Reichsbahn did not develop a strategy for packaged goods Cost of transportation of packaged goods were not covered by the low prices. In 1929, 49% of the shipments did only cost up to 1,50 RM. It became evident in the 1920s, that transportation by trucks in short und medium distances were more cost effectiv. In 1923, the Reichsbahn established a committee to study the shift from rail to truck. In 1923, a pilot study for packaged goods: on average 40 tons per day by truck in the short distance transportation from Berlin s terminal Görlitzer Bahnhof to the southern suburbs. But despite of these approaches, the Reichsbahn failed to develop a convincing strategy. Instead to broaden its vision to the transportation of goods regardless of the carrierer it narrowed its strategy to run trains.

21 Reichsbahn (Bundesbahn) fighting against the truck The Transport Administration applied severe measures against the truck Long distance transport acts 1935 and 1952 Aligning the truck transport prices to railway prices Restrict the number of trucks which could be operated by truck entrepreneurs to about till The restriction of truck transport hampered the development of logistics as a service industry. Instead, the truck transport of own account, carried out by large industrial enterprises, expanded strongly during 1960 and According to regulation the truck on own account had to be empty on its return trip. So the cost advantages of truck transport could not be gathered.

22 The European Economic Community (EEC) as promoters to truck transportation In the EEC, there was a conflict between states supporting the railroads - Germany, Italy and France - and states that demanded liberalization of truck transport - Great Britain, Netherlands and Denmark. By 1988, the supporters of liberalization had prevailed. The number of trucks allowed to cross the borders (inside the EEC) rose sharply, imposing competition on the national transport markets. Since 1994, the prices for cross border truck transport were not regulated and left to the market. In Germany, where a strict policy against truck transportation had dominated since 1950, the maximum number of trucks allowed to operate and the prescribed prices were canceled as late as 1998.

23 Truck friendly transport policy of the European Union The transport policy of the European Union was very truck friendly. Trucks could cross the borders without customs control since Together with the expansion of the motorway network in Europe since 1960, the truck became the most important carrier for packaged goods in Europe. The packaged goods of the mass consumption society were stored and transshipped in warehouses built near the motorways and near the agglomerations of inhabitants. In the UK, consider the motorway M1 linking London to Leeds. Its section from Milton Keynes (warehouse of Amazon) to Nottingham developed to the preferred location for distribution logistics known as golden triangle.

24 Policy of the European Union towards clean trucks In 1988 the Council of Ministers adopted a directive which established limits for the exhaust gases from diesel engines of heavy trucks and led to a series of "Euro emission standards". In 2001 Euro 3, in 2006 Euro 4. Now the emission standard is Euro 5. With the given mix of electric power generation of the German railway the truck transport has a comparable emission impact as the railway cargo transport, whereas in the 1980s there was much environmental concern about the truck which was the justification of the freight village campaign of the Transport Administration.

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26 Supply of fresh fruits and vegetables from the farm yards to the cities: Urgent delivery according to the status of ripening. Advantage for truck transportation RBD Hamburg 1932

27 I thank for your kind attention!