Chapter objectives:

-          understanding the importance of applying the logistics technologies in city centers;

-          knowledge of used logistics solutions when providing transport services in the city;

-      knowledge of basic types of urban transport networks.

Time required to study the chapter: 6 hours

Interpretation:

Urban freight transport has become an important issue in the field of urban planning. Due to the increasing occurrence of congestions, environmental impacts and considerable energy consumption, this problem has a growing importance.

City logistics includes solutions of transportation of materials and goods, warehouses operation, including the business network, operation of the internal transport system, transport services for small and medium-sized enterprises and passenger transport.

 

Major problem in big cities

• An absence of segregation between passenger and freight transport
• Vehicles share the same transport network
• Relationship to transport planning – policy!
• Congestion affects the transport operation,
• Problems related to transport politics,
• Problems with parking, loading and unloading,
• Problems with customers and goods delivery - unloading and collection, time of delivery and collection, etc.

This problem can be solved by various regulatory measures that try to separate each other from the conflicting components:

• • Spatially – by reserving the selected roads, or at least traffic lanes only for urban passenger transport; construction of overground and underground parking garages, entry limitations for heavy trucks, parking/stopping prohibition, reserved parking, etc.
  • Timely - some urban areas try to displace freight transport with heavy tonnage into the night and early morning hours, restrict it, or totally prohibit it, time-limited parking.

However, with higher territory utilization and higher economic activity, the need to apply individual logistics principles arises, coordinate and synchronize them with the participation of city authorities.

 

Examples of city logistics solutions in the field of road transport in EU cities

A) Specialized Objects (Urban Distribution Center)

From the analysis of large cities such as Berlin, Bremen, Munich, etc., the most frequently used solution is to create the specialized logistics centers (parks), intermodal terminals and distribution centers.

A more efficient utilization of freight vehicles can be achieved by consolidation of freight in ‘‘city distribution centers’’ or ‘‘urban consolidation centers’’.

UCC is a logistics facility that is situated relatively close to the area that it serves, for example, a city center, an entire town, or a specific site. It collects shipments of different companies in terms of an integrated logistics system. UCCs offer storage, sorting, consolidation, and deconsolidation facilities as well as a number of related services such as accounting, legal counsel, and brokerage. Consolidation of deliveries may lead to a decrease of kilometers traveled.

Principle of the UCC - Freight arrives at an ‘‘external zone,’’ where it is consolidated into urban trucks. Each urban truck delivers to one or several satellite platforms (destinations). Here, freight is transshipped into environment-friendly vehicles adapted to pickup and delivery in crowded inner city areas. Satellite platforms offer no storage facilities, requiring complex real-time coordination, control, and scheduling of urban trucks and city freighters.

Above all, the most important functions of these objects are:

• • relocation of goods from industrial facilities,
  • packaging, weighing, application of bar codes, etc.,
  • goods loading and unloading,
  • goods warehousing,
  • providing necessary consultations in the field of logistics, law, marketing, finance, etc.,
  • handling with storage equipment,
  • consignments transition in the form of intermodal transport units among railway, inland waterways, maritime and road transport.

 

B) Restriction or permission of vehicles entry to city centers

Vehicles entry to individual parts of a city may only be permitted for certain types of vehicles, only at certain time intervals or on the basis of the issued license.

Depending on the type of a vehicle - size, weight, quantity of produced emissions. In most cases, the weight limit related to the total vehicle weight is applied, however, for example, in city centers, it is often necessary to apply the width limitation since the narrow aisles do not allow the transit of wider vehicles. Restrictions may also be applied to vehicles meeting certain emission limits.

 

C) Ecological (low-emission) zones (restrictions by ecological standards)

Low-emission or ecological zone: area where only vehicles meeting certain emission criteria may enter. Zones can be specified by:

• • geographical delimitation,
  • time sequences,
  • vehicle emission standards,
  • types of vehicles.

Existing low emission zones: Italy - Rome, Sweden - Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Lund, Great Britain - London, Spain - Madrid, France - Paris, Denmark - Copenhagen, Italy - Milan.

 

D) Map for truck drivers

Creation of this map helps navigate and orientate in the city. The map contains information about, e.g.:

• restriction of vehicle driving by weight,
• occurrence of supply and loading ramps,
• prohibition of trucks entry,
• preferred routes, etc.

A detailed supply map allows optimizing the individual supply routes to a particular customer. This map can be distributed in printed form or as a part of satellite navigation systems (electronic formats) which are capable to navigate the driver to the required route.

 

Fig. 2 Example of the map for truck drivers

 

E) Charging for transport infrastructure

Charging for a certain area or individual road sections allows to transfer the external costs of infrastructure construction and external costs arising from the vehicles operation (environmental pollution costs, congestion costs and car accident costs) directly to the operator or owner of vehicles. There are more types of charging, and also several technologies and methods to implement them. It can be used both manual and automated systems as well as state-of-the-art technologies for monitoring and enforcement technologies using radio and satellite connections.

 

Study materials:

Basic literature:

LEDVINOVÁ, M. City logistika a navrhování dopravních systémů měst, Available at: http://pernerscontacts.upce.cz/12_2008/ledvinova.pdf

TUZAR, A., MAXA, P., SVOBODA V. Teorie dopravy, Publisher - ČVUT Prague 1997, ISBN 80-01-01637-4

Recommended study materials:

TANIGUCHI, E. a R.G. THOMPSON. City Logistics: Mapping The Future. CRC Press, 2014. 231 p. ISBN 978-1-4822-0889-4.

TANIGUCHI, E. et al. Urban Transportation and Logistics: Health, Safety, and Security Concerns. 1st. CRC Press, 2013. 280 p. ISBN 978-1-4822-0909-9.

 

Questions and tasks

1.      Write out some examples of city logistics solutions in world cities

2.      What are low-emission zones?

a)      an area where only vehicles meeting certain emission criteria may enter

b)      an area where only vehicles meeting certain weight limits may enter

c)      specialized objects which consolidate and de-consolidate goods.

 

3.      What is a major problem in big cities?

4.      Within the restriction or permission of vehicles entry to city centers, entry only for following vehicles may be permitted:

      a)      based on the issued license

      b)      certain types of vehicle, only at certain time intervals or on the basis of the issued license

      c)      based on the emission limits

 

Key to solve the questions:

1)   Berlin, Bremen, Munich, etc. – construction of specialized logistics parks, intermodal terminals and distribution centers; Existing low emission zones: Italy - Rome, Sweden - Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Lund, Great Britain - London, Spain - Madrid, France - Paris, Denmark - Copenhagen, Italy - Milan.

2)      a.

3)    Absence of necessary segregation between passenger and freight transport, Vehicles share the same transport network, Insufficient traffic planning - policy!, Congestion affecting traffic, Transport policy problems, parking, loading and unloading, etc.

4)      b.

  5)    Creation of this map helps navigate and orientate in the city. The map contains information about, e.g.: restriction of vehicle driving by weight, occurrence of supply and loading ramps, prohibition of trucks entry, preferred routes, etc. A detailed supply map allows optimizing the individual supply routes to a particular customer.