citylogistics: working on livable cities
TRANSCRIPT
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City Logistics Working on livable cities through sustainable city logistics
Walther Ploos van Amstel Professor of City Logistics at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) Faculty of Technology Urban Technology research program September 2015
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Content 1. Urban mobility 2. Measures for city logistics 3. International research 4. Supply chain perspective 5. City logistics as we head towards 2050 6. An integrated approach 7. Applied research 8. The future of sustainable city logistics Copyright Walther Ploos van Amstel Amsterdam, 2015
This relatively new discipline has several different names in English, including urban freight transport (UTF), urban distribution, city distribution, urban logistics, and city logistics. I prefer the term "city logistics” and use that in this lecture and otherwise in my work.
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Clean and sustainable cities are appealing places to live, to work, to enjoy life, and – not least – to invest in. I live right in the very center of Amsterdam and look out over the bustling square in front of Central Station. Every day, around the clock, trucks and delivery vans drive past my door to deliver shoes and put fresh fish on the table; they deliver packages from web stores, they arrive with construction materials, and they pick up lots and lots of garbage. It’s a wonderful sight if you enjoy transport as much as I do. My neighbors aren’t quite as excited about transport, however. They complain about the poor air quality, the lack of safety, and the inaccessibility of the neighborhood. Irritation is also growing among the local business owners themselves. Their customers are complaining... It’s really not much fun trying to enjoy a cold beer at an outdoor café with all those trucks and touring cars chugging by. Good city logistics is important for the economic vitality and the appeal of cities. It ensures that restaurants can serve their guests, that stores can offer the very latest product range and that buildings can be renovated without delays. Urbanization puts new demands on urban mobility. As customer demands evolve, city logistics is becoming more and more finely meshed and more often just-in-time. If no adjustments are made to current policy, city logistics will continue to grow. City logistics needs to become smarter, cleaner, quieter, and safer, with faster flows. The City Logistics research program will be conducting applied research on ways to improve city logistics. In my inaugural lecture I will start by giving an impression of the challenges in relation to city logistics in Amsterdam and other cities. I will then give an overview of the themes for future research. In developing a base of practical knowledge, we will be making use of an integrated approach on the basis of a city logistics concept and the Business Model Canvas. Finally, I will conclude by presenting the themes of this new research program. Walther Ploos Amstel Amsterdam, September 2015
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1. Urban mobility All around the globe, urban populations are growing. In the Netherlands, too, the process of urbanization is taking place in many large, medium-‐size, and small cities and in their immediate vicinity. The most highly urbanized region of the Netherlands is commonly referred to there as the Randstad. Encircling the country’s rural “Green Heart”, the Randstad includes the country’s four largest cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht, and The Hague (PBL, 2015). In an interview in the Dutch daily newspaper Trouw, Amsterdam urban planner and social geographer Zef Hemel predicted that Amsterdam’s population will reach two million inhabitants by 2040 (Hemel, 2015). As a consequence of such growth, more and more people will need to share the same space in the city (Groen Links Amsterdam, 2011). Policy-‐makers around the world are facing the challenge of keeping their growing cities livable. Freight traffic plays an important role in that connection, in both a positive and a negative sense. ALICE/ERTRAC (2015) estimates that between 10 and 15% of all vehicle mileage driven in cities involves freight traffic. Research in the US has shown a disproportionately strong increase in the share of truck mileage driven within cities in the past 50 years, particularly by smaller trucks: from 40% in 1966 to 60% in 2013. The increase has been particularly steep in the past few years as consumers purchase more and more online (Brookings, 2015)
Urbanization is placing new demands on urban mobility: between 10 and 15% of all vehicle mileage driven in cities involves freight traffic. Mobility in Amsterdam In the Uitvoeringsagenda Mobiliteit voor Amsterdam (“Implementation Agenda for Mobility in Amsterdam”) from April 2015, city alderman Pieter Litjens (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2015b) wrote (in Dutch):
Throughout the centuries, Amsterdam has held a special attraction for many people. The city’s appeal has brought us many new Amsterdammers, unprecedented dynamism, and economic and cultural prosperity. Its success is astonishing: each year more and more people come to live, work, and study in Amsterdam. And especially since the recent reopening of the city’s greatest museums, more and more tourists are finding their way to our nation’s capital. With each new day, Amsterdam is only getting busier and busier – but that also has a downside. Cars, bicyclists, and pedestrians increasingly find themselves in each other’s way, and the scarce public spaces in or near the city center are nearly always full of people. Both the accessibility and the public spaces of Amsterdam are under increasing pressure. To keep the city safe and easy to reach, and to keep public spaces accessible and appealing, we are going to need to make some choices. It is no longer workable to have cars and bikes and pedestrians and public transport going everywhere at the same time. We need to accommodate the
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increasing mobility in a heavily urbanized area such as Amsterdam primarily by giving more room to pedestrians, bicyclists, and public transportation.
This Uitvoeringsagenda lists a number of measures aimed at creating more room for loading and unloading and for optimizing regulations and enforcing those. It mentions a Supply Committee (an initiative of the trade organizations MKB Amsterdam, VNO-‐NCW, EVO, and TLN) that will make proposals for improving accessibility and ensuring a better flow in the transport of goods. Topics that the City of Amsterdam would like to gain more insight into include: slow traffic flows (pedestrians and bicyclists), urban distribution and logistics, electric mobility, automated transport, and mobility behavior. The City of Amsterdam is studying these themes in collaboration with the following knowledge institutions: the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, the University of Amsterdam (UvA), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU), and the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA). In its Agenda Duurzaamheid (“Sustainability Agenda”), the City of Amsterdam states its intention to improve the city’s air quality by stimulating the use of zero-‐emission vehicles and introducing low-‐emission zones (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2015a). A more regional focus in the distribution of products or an expansion of the separate collection of waste streams will mean more mileage for trucks. But that would come at the expense of greater accessibility and better air quality, and it will call for new forms of urban distribution and the consolidation of waste collection trips in the city. Agreements will be made with trade organizations about ways to achieve zero-‐emission mobility. The subsidies that are intended to stimulate zero-‐emission mobility will be continued to make it possible to meet the air-‐quality standards. The Stad in Balans (“City in Balance”) memorandum (Gemeente Amsterdam, 2015c) has also made the case for paying closer attention to city logistics. It calls for smart, small-‐scale, and zero-‐emission urban distribution, including a greater use of waterways.
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Freight traffic is only one of the transport flows in the city, of course. It shares the infrastructure with pedestrians, bicyclists and other two-‐wheeled vehicles, private cars, taxis, and public transportation, and it shares the water with canal excursion boats and pleasure craft. Recent traffic surveys held on Amsterdam’s Ferdinand Bolstraat (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2015a) show that some 80% of the freight traffic consists of delivery vans (the remaining 20% concerns larger trucks and garbage trucks). The main categories are (in order of importance) construction and installation, hospitality and food service, and waste. There are also many parcel and store deliveries. In addition there are the combined flows of people and material such as service technicians, builders, and installers (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2015a). In Amsterdam’s bustling Haarlemmerstraat neighborhood, freight traffic account for as much as 40% of rush-‐hour traffic, both in the mornings and in the evenings (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2015f). Most of the deliveries in the city are still made using carriers on own account or dedicated outsourcing. City logistics, whereby a logistics service provider consolidates freight flows from multiple shippers, is limited. The carriers on own account enters the city from relatively short distances: about 25 miles on average. In contrast, professional freight transport takes place over longer distances: an average of 56 miles according to the transport statistics of CBS. Studies on public procurement confirm these figures (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2014, 2015c; Balm et al., 2015). Amsterdam and innovations in mobility Since July 2014, the City of Amsterdam has had a chief technology officer (CTO). As an advisor and facilitator, the CTO has a flywheel effect, helping the city to comprehend complex urban issues, to choose a focus, to connect different parties, and to formulate an approach and strategies in the area of smart mobility, among others. Cities are under increasing pressure. People are migrating to the cities, where they are eager to live, work, and enjoy themselves. This growth means added pressure on the traffic and transport both within and to and from the city. Amsterdam will continue to grow in the coming years, and so will the traffic and transport there. As CTO Ger Baron puts it: “The big challenge is: how do we keep Amsterdam accessible, ensure good air quality, and keep the public spaces attractive, so that the quality of life in the city and the draw of the city will improve?” (translated from the Dutch; source: Gemeente Amsterdam, 2015d). As the most important trends, the CTO sees: the Internet of Things, the rise of connected vehicles and smart infrastructure, capacity sharing, using real time (open) data for precision-‐guided logistics alternative fuels. The CTO matches urban mobility issues with the knowledge already present in the city in projects such as the urban mobility lab (AMS Institute), ALLEGRO, SELF STAD self-‐driving cars and bicycles. The Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) is involved in a number of these studies as a knowledge partner.
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European perspective The future of city logistics is being carefully considered at the European level (ALICE/ERTRAC, 2015). Europe is a largely urban continent; some 359 million people (72% of the total EU population) currently live in urbanized areas. The share of the population that lives in cities continues to grow and will reach as much as 80% by 2020. Cities are not only the places where goods are delivered, but also where shipments originate. Outgoing transport represents between 20 and 25% of the transport mileage in urban areas, incoming freight amounts to between 40 and 50%, and the rest both originates in and is delivered to locations within the city itself (ALICE/ERTRAC, 2015). Waste transport also forms a significant share of city logistics. The transport of freight in cities leads to congestion, poorer air quality, problems with noise and a lack of safety.
The transport of freight in cities with trucks and delivery vans leads to congestion. Other problems include: poorer air quality, noise pollution, and a lack of safety (MDS Transmodal, 2012; Taniguchi et al., 2015). In Europe, city logistics is responsible for 25% of the transport-‐related CO2 emissions and 30 to 50% of the remaining transport-‐related air pollution (PM, NOx, etc.) Within the OECD, the transport sector is the largest consumer of energy in general and of oil in particular (OECD, 2015). Even though the number of freight vehicles is limited, they are relatively more often involved in accidents with pedestrians and bicyclists. As city logistics is responsible for a significant share of the ambient noise in cities, it also
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inconveniences residents during the night. The utilization rate of city logistics vehicles is low. According to Transport for London, for example, delivery vans in that city have an average utilization rate of about 38%. These negative consequences of city logistics have a direct impact on the appeal and livability of cities (ALICE/ERTRAC, 2015). Smart and zero-emission city logistics should contribute to more livable and appealing cities with cleaner vehicles that better match the size of the city, but also to the consolidation of freight flows and the use of waterways for transporting goods to and from the city. A more finely meshed network The urgency to promote smart and zero-‐emission city logistics is growing. City logistics is becoming more finely meshed and more frequent (Taniguchi et al., 2015). And that, in turn, is putting increasing pressure on the city: there are more shipments, involving more vehicles. A more finely meshed network is the result of developments such as the following:
• The growth of omnichannel retailing, with home delivery and pick-‐up points, the increase in sales transacted between consumers themselves, and the sharing economy (Weltevreden & Rotem-‐Mindali, 2009; Visser et al., 2014). Consumers who also want shorter delivery times and more delivery options.
• The growth of e-‐commerce in B2B markets (Forrester, 2015). • The return of stores from the outskirts of town to inside the city. Among
others, IKEA and Praxis are opening stores in the city (NOS, 2015). • The faster exchanges of collections in retail stores, especially in the
fashion branch (Barnes & Lea-‐Greenwood, 2010). • The rise of nano stores such as Albert Heijn To Go (Blanco & Fransoo,
2013). • The growth of the inner-‐city renovation market in the construction sector
(RESIDE, 2015). • The linking of return flows from the city with the circular economy (Soto
et al., 2015). • The servicification of products, which leads to more service provision.
(Eckerdal, 2012). • The growth of 3D printing, which leads to local production, which in turn
needs raw materials in small amounts (Janssen, 2014; Taniguchi, 2015). • The growing number of urban seniors who need home care (Hogeschool
van Amsterdam, 2015b).
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2. Measures for city logistics Local and national authorities play an active role in regulating, coordinating, facilitating, and stimulating city logistics (MDS Transmodal, 2012; Vlaamse Ministerie van Mobiliteit en Openbare Werken, 2013; Quak et al., 2014b). Table 1 shows the measures that such authorities can take. Research is being done at the European level on the effectiveness of measures for the various different stakeholders (MDS Transmodal, 2015). Measures Examples Regulation Delivery windows
Vehicle restrictions Low-‐emission zones
Market forces Internalization of external costs: -‐ pricing -‐ mobility points -‐ time-‐based charges (vignettes)
Subsidies for zero-‐emission vehicles, bicycle couriers, and transport by water or rail Fiscal policy
Spatial planning Redevelopment of (new) areas Creation of pick-‐up points for e-‐commerce shipments Loading and unloading facilities Access for transport by water and rail Facilitating urban consolidation centers Charging infrastructure for electric vehicles
Infrastructure Loading and unloading facilities on the street Loading and unloading facilities on the water or the rails Parking locations for heavy construction traffic
Technology Intelligent transport systems Dynamic traffic management Green wave traffic signaling for heavy traffic Virtual loading and unloading bays Open data and local traffic control data
Other Granting of privileges Enforcement Consolidation of demand via urban consolidation centers and coordinated (public) procurement Certification of carriers Management of construction logistics using the accessibility, livability, safety, and communications (ALSC) framework Subsidies for urban consolidation centers Early-‐morning and late-‐night deliveries and stimulating silent vehicles Preferred routes for heavy freight traffic Incentives for research programs, expertise development, and business networks Public-‐private partnerships
Table 1. Government measures with regard to city logistics
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Stakeholders The following are all stakeholders in sustainable city logistics (Macharis & Bernardini, 2015):
• residents, who want to have clean air, safety, and no undue noise • visitors, who come to the cities for recreation and do not want to find
streets filled with freight traffic • companies, which depend on smooth logistics in order to run their
businesses • shippers and transport companies, who bring goods into the cities day
after day, preferably at the lowest possible cost • the government, which is responsible for the making sure the carries
responsibility for the draw of the city • real estate owners, project developers and investors, who want to receive
a decent return on their investments in homes and commercial properties • politicians, who want to be re-‐elected every four years.
City logistics in a historical perspective The first plans for urban distribution centers in the Netherlands were developed in the early 1990s. The consulting firm Coopers & Lybrand (Coopers & Lybrand, 1991; Van Aken et al., 1993) did research on urban distribution centers in Maastricht, Amsterdam, and Alkmaar, among other locations. In subsequent years, those studies were followed by stacks of reports on other municipalities, including Breda, Oosterhout, Utrecht, and Amersfoort, on the Stadsbox (“City box”) initiative (Groothedde & Rustenburg, 2003), on a cargo tram, beer boats, and freight transport by canal in Amsterdam, on the work of Binnenstadservice (a city logistics service center) in various municipalities, and on subsidies for electric vehicles. Quak’s dissertation (2008) provides an overview of the most important Dutch initiatives and literature in this regard. He concludes (in Dutch):
The extent to which initiatives will be successful in practice depends on the relationship between the initiators, the incentive to participate in initiatives, and the dominant actors. If the initiator is not the most dominant actor, an initiative can only be implemented successfully in practice if the actor who is supposed to change his behavior actually stands to benefit from it. Another option is to legally oblige that actor to adapt his behavior. Among local authorities, there is only limited knowledge of the logistics operations of transporters. In the same way, transporters know little about the issues regarding sustainability in cities. Moreover, the near lack of any communication between transporters and local authorities means that these public and private actors rarely ever get any real insight into each other’s problems. An initiative is doomed to fail if its initiator is unable to estimate the consequences of the initiative beyond the scope that he defined for it. Higher levels of government are hardly ever involved in initiatives for a sustainable distribution of goods. The initiatives described in the academic literature have not always been successful in practice.
Cargohopper Amsterdam
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In its first nine months, the four electric delivery trucks of Cargohopper Amsterdam managed to deliver more than a million kilograms of freight, saving the company 7,000 liters of diesel fuel. “We are very happy with this result,” says Ron Klein Tiessink, director of Cargohopper, on the website of trade journal Truck & Transportmanagement. Since the delivery service began using electric trucks in March 2014, the company has made nearly 34,000 deliveries. In the process, the concept has more than proved itself, according to Klein Tiessink. The electric urban distribution has prevented the emission of 18,400 kilograms of CO2. At the same time, the emissions of particulate matter and nitrogen compounds (NOx) have been reduced. Since Cargohopper consolidates its shipments in a smart way, the company also manages to reduce the average distance driven for each individual delivery. That means that the actual savings in terms of fuel consumption and emissions are even higher. Klein Tiessink thinks it’s a shame that there are still only seven of the Cargohopper trucks he developed being used in Amsterdam, Enschede, and Utrecht. He is pleased with all the attention it has received, but he would prefer to see the market speed up its development. “Zero-‐emission urban distribution is only going to work when it stops being something out of the ordinary. The latest generation of heavier electric vehicles should be available for purchase from a dealer.” If the market would have a need for 700 trucks, it would already be possible to scale up to series production, says Klein Tiessink. That is an absolute prerequisite. Only then can the price come down far enough that companies would be able to buy such a truck without a subsidy. The Cargohopper director hopes that cities both in the Netherlands and internationally will begin pursuing a common policy. “Only then will there be sufficient demand for the right heavier electric trucks, which would make it interesting for the industry to develop those. Source: Truck & Transportmanagement, January 23, 2015
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3. International research On the European level, research is being conducted in programs such as Bestuffs, Bestfact, Straightsol, Sugar, Smartfusion, Citylog, Civitas, Frevue (on electric transport), CoE-‐SUFS, Lamilo, ALICE/ERTRAC and Smartset. Also elsewhere around the world there are comprehensive research programs. With regard to the evaluation of European pilot projects, Balm et al. (2014) conclude:
The number of initiatives that aim to improve urban freight transport grow (sic) rapidly. To make sure that the obtained results grow (sic) as fast as well, we should make sure that we do the right things and that we know how (sic). To avoid wasting money, effort, and time on implementing measures and initiatives that will not (likely) be successful in the future, knowledge transfer across cities is very important. The knowledge should be based on a transparent evaluation, identifying the relevant impacts and measurable indicators that represent the key objectives of all stakeholders. As there is not one problem owner of urban freight transport issues (sic), such a thorough evaluation is often lacking.
On the evaluation of projects, Quak et al. (2014) claim:
Small scale, local demonstrations of which the outcomes are considered to be only appropriate within a specific context occur quite often in the field of city logistics. Various local demonstrations usually show a solution’s technical and operational feasibility. These often subsidized demonstrations do not have long-‐term potential due to the lack of thought on (sic) their business models, i.e. the financial feasibility. To make a solution really work in practice a viable business model is required.
Vahrenkamp et al. (2013) conclude:
As a main result of the city logistic (sic) projects over the past 25 years one has to state that traffic reduction and economic gains of consolidation were only small (sic). The gains do not cover the costs the projects impose. To make the projects economic (sic) feasible the cities had to carry a share of the cost. This was the case for all Urban Consolidation Centre (UCC) solutions in the UK, France, Netherlands and Italy. The weak position of UCC became evident when public money was canceled and the UCC had to stop.
Many initiatives for city logistics started out with government subsidies. When the government funding dried up, that would often mean the end of the initiative as well.
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Many projects failed Unfortunately, most of city logistics projects have been unsuccessful and have ended up dying a premature, quiet death. Generally speaking, there are five reasons for this:
1. They were developed on the basis of the wrong data about city logistics. Many initiatives focused on retail distribution, which accounts for only a small share of city logistics and often already involves consolidation. Until a few years ago, the major flows such as construction materials, waste, and catering supplies remained out of the picture, which essentially meant that no visible results were achieved in terms of improving city logistics.
2. The proposed solutions were unattractive for the customers. As a result of logistics consolidation centers (such as urban distribution centers) the delivery ended up taking longer.
3. The city logistics solution ended up being more expensive for the shippers than the existing solution. The entire chain – from the distribution center all the way to the delivery in the city – was not well thought out. Solutions were often only developed for the last mile on entering the city.
4. The business model for city logistics was not sound. And because the business model was not sound, a critical mass was never achieved.
5. The local political situation proved volatile, which meant the local playing field for city logistics changed every four years.
This brief analysis of the bottlenecks for city logistics also indicates the conditions for successful future solutions:
1. Focus solutions on the major flows of goods within cities. 2. The receiving party should never be worse off in any case. 3. The solution should not be more expensive for the chain. 4. There needs to be a sound business model for city logistics service
providers. 5. There needs to be continuity in local and national policy in terms of city
logistics. European vision for 2050 On the one hand, Europe needs to provide for the still-‐growing need for mobility and freight transport, but on the one hand, it also needs to ensure a substantial reduction in greenhouse gases and other harmful emissions as well as in noise pollution (European Commission, 2011). The dependence on oil must be decreased, while at the same time maintaining a high level of efficiency in the transport system. This calls for radical changes in the system, based on smarter, cleaner, and safer transport solutions. ERTRAC (European Road Transport Research Advisory Council) and ALICE (Alliance for Logistics Innovation through Collaboration in Europe) have put together a roadmap for research on city logistics (ALICE/ERTRAC, 2015). The
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aim of this roadmap is to set the research priorities in relation to city logistics. In the logistics vision of ALICE, which covers the period until 2050, the main ambition is the development of the so-‐called Physical Internet (Ballot et al., 2014). To achieve that ambition, two proposed lines of research form the basis for the logistics projects within the EU Horizon 2020 research program. These are: a) sustainable and safe supply chains, and b) coordination and collaboration in global supply networks. The research will focus on corridors, hubs and synchromodality, city logistics, and information systems for connecting logistics systems within the chain. The participants in ALICE are companies, research institutes, national governments, and innovation partners. The roadmap (ALICE/ERTRAC, 2015) has four objectives:
1. Decarbonization: energy efficiency can be achieved by making city logistics more efficient (for example by consolidation deliveries) and by using zero-‐emission and energy-‐efficient vehicle technology (Stanislaw et al., 2014). One condition for the introduction of electric vehicles is the implementation of a charging infrastructure with rapid charging points. Smart city logistics concepts can compensate for the extra costs of using electric vehicles for the transportation of goods by raising the utilization rate, by reducing the number of miles driven and the number of empty runs made, and by preventing hours from being lost.
2. Livability and the quality of the environment: the research is expected to help improve the air quality in European cities and to reduce noise levels. The factors contributing to local air pollution can differ significantly from city to city, just as the relative share of transport as a cause of urban air pollution also varies from place to place. The goal is to reduce particulate matter by 80% and NOx by 90% in the period from 2010 until 2030. It is possible to improve air quality by reducing the emissions of the vehicles themselves by applying higher emission standards, by using smart city logistics concepts, and by local traffic management. The reduction of noise emissions in connection with city logistics is important due to its impact on the health of the citizens. Quieter vehicles will make it possible to make deliveries at night. This will require not only a reduction of the noise level of the vehicles themselves, but also of the noise from the loading and unloading of goods.
3. Reliability: city logistics is only effective when the goods are delivered to the expected delivery point and at the expected delivery time. With regard to business-‐to-‐business (B2B), the percentage of effective deliveries is already around 95%. For business-‐to-‐consumer (B2C) deliveries in the urban environment, that is currently only 70% to 75%. The reliability will need to improve substantially with an eye to the fast growth of e-‐commerce (Van Duin et al., 2015; EY, 2015).
4. Safety: there is growing concern about the number of injuries and fatalities involving trucks and more vulnerable road users in the urban environment. The European Union has ambitious goals in relation to traffic safety. Some cities have already adopted Vision Zero as their policy objective. The roadmap focuses research on infrastructure, vehicles, and human behavior. Besides traffic safety, there is also attention for safe deliveries with less theft and damage.
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4. Supply chain perspective In the effort to realize these objectives, city logistics should be seen as a link in the logistics chain, with the end user as the primary end point (which, based on the notion of circularity, is also a potential new starting point). A holistic approach should be followed in order to understand what can be done upstream to optimize the logistics chain and to have it link up with city logistics. City logistics lies at the end of an integrated logistics chain: from field to fork. Three technological developments in transport and distribution are going to fundamentally change the existing distribution networks: the Trans-‐European Transport Networks (TEN-‐T), the autonomous trucks that will carry goods safely and reliably across the TEN-‐T, and the innovations in warehouse automation.
1. TEN-‐T: international transport links. In the framework of the TEN-‐T program, the European Commission has
designated ten international transport links – the “core network corridors” – that are to be fully built up and improved with EU funding through 2030. These concern innovative transport links on water, rails, and roads.
The aim is to further strengthen the European transport infrastructure –
and the intelligent transport and traffic management systems that go along with that – and to lower transport costs in the process. On these safe and robust core network corridors, goods can find their way – uninterrupted, but especially also reliably – between Europe’s major production and consumption areas. This is the preferred network of the future.
2. Platooning: autonomous driving. Unmanned trucks are getting closer and closer. The use of wireless
technology to connect to a road train – a manually steered lead truck with a column of vehicles behind it – is already technically possible. These road trains are going to need to have sufficient volume and frequency. That will require enormous distribution centers where logistics service providers can consolidate transport flows from different sectors of industry to deliver – with a high frequency and great reliability – to distribution centers downstream in the chain, closer to major consumption centers: urban consolidation centers. Those DCs will need to be strategically connected with these nodes of the TEN-‐T network.
3. Dark stores: robots in warehouses. Faster, more frequent and more finely meshed delivery calls for the
mechanization of order-‐picking activities in distribution centers: dark stores. With new technology such as Amazon’s picking robots, automatic case picking, RFID, GS1 standards for things like pallet labels, dock-‐and-‐
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roll, and pick-‐by-‐voice, the productivity in distribution centers is increasing in leaps and bounds. Distribution centers where employees gather 900 to 1,200 order lines an hour are no longer exceptions. Those investments can only be earned back in distribution centers with sufficient scale.
Ten years ago, experts still thought that distribution centers couldn’t be any larger than 50,000 square meters. Warehouses larger than that were thought to be less efficient. In the meantime, recent examples from Zalando, Action, Nike, and Zara have shown that efficient distribution centers can easily be as big as 150,000 to 300,000 square meters.
The distribution centers of the future will be located at strategic points within the TEN-‐T network. They will consolidate freight flows from many shippers and have fully mechanized internal processes. The distribution centers will be interconnected with advanced systems for the minute-‐by-‐minute planning and steering of the operational processes with transport management, warehouse management, and traffic management: sense and respond. Control towers will see to the tactical coordination of the flows of goods and capacities in the distribution network: predict and prepare. These developments will have consequences for the city logistics at the end of the logistics chain and thus also for local spatial planning (Dablanc, 2014). More and more often, urban consolidation centers on the edges of cities will be the points where slow mobility, aimed at efficiently consolidated freight flows, turns into valuable personalized mobility, aimed at the needs of the receiver. The pressure to improve the air quality in urban areas is an important incentive for the use of electric vehicles. That means that more shipments are being transferred to these electric vehicles at consolidation centers within or around the city. An urban consolidation centers functions as a lynch pin and pivot point in the logistics chain for physical, information, and financial flows, but that only works properly with a corresponding organizational structure. Important ingredients for the organization model are the neutral director’s role that can serve the
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interests of every shipper, transporter, distributor, and receiver, and the national coverage of uniform services combined with local situation (Guis, 2014). This transfer-‐of-‐goods function needs to be integrated into the logistics chain with multiple parties. Different business models, new processes, and technologies will need to be investigated and implemented. The city logistics systems are becoming more and more integrated with both horizontal and vertical collaboration between parties. Such a development needs to have attention for intermodal and multimodal solutions for city logistics (for example the shipping of products via inland waterways to the edges of the city). More and more vehicles are connected with each other and with road authorities, for example via cooperative intelligent transportation systems (ITS-‐C). With traffic management, this can result in better freight traffic flows. Finally one should not forget that the freight traffic in cities is the result of the behavior of customers in those cities. The development of the city and the lifestyle of the people who live there both have a major impact on city logistics. Factors such as the development of teleworking, an aging population, housing, and the growth of omnichannel retail have major consequences for city logistics (ALICE/ERTRAC, 2015). Digitization may also offer opportunities to put the client behind the steering wheel in organizing city logistics more efficiently. AH.nl allows customers to choose a delivery time themselves. By charging different prices for the different delivery times (ranging from €4.95 to €12.95), AH.nl leads its customers by the hand through the logistics process. And in doing so, AH.nl is managing to optimize its own home-‐delivery process quietly and dynamically.
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5. City logistics as we head towards 2050 The ALICE/ERTRAC (2015) report contains 12 roadmaps that were developed for the research themes for the coming decades:
1. Identifying and assessing opportunities in urban freight. 2. Towards a more efficient integration of urban freight in the urban
transport system. 3. Understanding the impact of land use on urban freight activities. 4. Enabling more efficient movements of goods through the management of
the infrastructure. 5. Improving the interaction between long distance freight transport and
urban freight. 6. Better adapting the vehicles to innovative urban freight delivery systems. 7. Value creation logistics services and more efficient operations. 8. E-‐commerce implications: Direct to consumer deliveries and functional
logistics services. 9. Reverse logistics and transport of waste and recycling material. 10. Designing and operating urban freight delivery infrastructures. 11. Safety and security in urban freight. 12. Cleaner and more efficient vehicles.
Netherlands 2020–2025: Green Deal Zero Emission Urban Logistics The Top Sector Logistics’ 2016–2020 multiyear program (Topsector Logistiek, 2015) also gives attention to city logistics. The collaboration between all the different parties involved in city logistics is currently most evident within the Green Deal Zero Emission Urban Logistics (GDZES) program. The basis of the GDZES lies in the Agreement on Energy for Sustainable Growth. That Agreement states (in Dutch): “In 2014, parties intend [...] to conclude a Green Deal about zero-‐emission city logistics that will facilitate and give direction to regional pilots.” In this context, zero-‐emission city logistics refers in any case to the reduction of CO2 emissions resulting from city logistics to zero, but preferably also to the reduction of NOx, particulate matter, and noise emissions in the city centers resulting from city logistics to practically zero. Parties to the GDZES have the goal of achieving emission-‐free deliveries in city centers by 2025. These parties include the Dutch national government, municipalities, industry associations, knowledge institutions, shippers, transport and distribution companies, fuel suppliers, and vehicle producers. By means of Living Labs, parties are working together to come up with workable operational solutions. The projects have to do with vehicle technology, the use and loading of trucks, and the initiation of innovative city logistics projects. With its action line for city logistics, the Top Sector Logistics wants to connect with this Green Deal. Considering that city logistics has a major impact on the accessibility and the broader quality of life in the city, both of which form the
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focus of the current Dutch government’s Agenda Stad (“Urban Agenda”), the action line for city logistics will form a link to that agenda. While there has been no large-‐scale production of zero-‐emission vehicles to date, electric delivery vans are already available and the first heavier, custom-‐made zero-‐emission trucks are already in use. In addition, prototypes of hybrid vehicles are being developed that can use conventional fuels on the motorways but travel emission-‐free for the “last mile” within the city. Despite the great diversity in load types and the resulting diversity of technical specifications for vehicles, relevant developments are currently under way for all types of supply vehicles that are being used on a large scale, each one proceeding at its own pace. As logistics concepts are scaled up further, the parties to the GDZES want to boost the development, availability, reliability, and affordability of zero-‐emission vehicles. By now there are many opportunities for electric vehicles in connection with city logistics (Stanislaw et al., 2014) and their use is being monitored (Nesterova et al., 2013; Pelletier et al., 2014; Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2015d). Besides the use of zero-‐emission vehicles, a reduction in the number of vehicles needed to bring supplies to the city is another important objective. Some goods already enter the city in efficient ways. That is especially the case where logistics professionals and companies have organized the (consolidation of) freight flows with transport on their own account, as with the stocking of supermarkets and chain stores. Also the distribution of e-‐commerce shipments is continually being optimized by the larger logistics parties, thanks in part to the sound agreements that are being made with receivers (Van Duin et al., 2015). In contrast to the efficient flows, by far most transport movements are known to work with a low utilization rate or only enter the city to deliver small shipments. New city logistics concepts and more extensive consolidation make the use of zero-‐emission vehicles and/or the use of clean vehicles with a high utilization rate in lieu of low emissions for those transport movements potentially feasible and are therefore in line with the GDZES objectives. Amsterdam has it’s own deal with local business organization and research institutions called ‘Slim en Schoon’.
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The action line for city logistics aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 5,000 kilotons of CO2 per year. Achieving zero-‐emission city logistics through a combination of better technology and more efficient logistics will require organizational, technological, social, financial, and legal adjustments. This variety of factors to be overcome, in combination with the many different interests of stakeholders, demands an innovative approach. The first phase will start the moment the Green Deal enters into force and run until 2020. In this initial phase, the Green Deal will focus on demonstrating or at least making plausible, via Living Labs, that zero-‐emission city logistics is feasible, from a technical, economic, and enforcement perspective, for a specific logistics flow. In the second phase, which runs until 2025, the Green Deal will focus on scaling up the demonstrated concepts. There are also links with other part of the Top Sector such as the application of knowledge from the 4C roadmap (for cross chain control centers), the development of new business models, and the implementation of digital exchanges of logistics information with the Neutral Logistic Information Platform or NLIP (Topsector Logistiek, 2015).
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6. An integrated approach Considering the Dutch and European ambitions, a lot of innovation will be required of shippers, receivers, logistics service providers, and governments when it comes to city logistics. In practice, the integrated logistics concept is often used in dealing with such innovative logistics issues (Van Goor et al., 2014). Local and supralocal government policy is another key factor in city logistics. For that reason, government policy has been added to the integrated approach of city logistics (see Fig. 1).
Figure 1: Integrated approach to city logistics (based on Van Goor et al., 2014). External and internal objectives In terms of the external objectives, it concerns linking up with the logistical needs of the receiving party during the customer-‐experience cycle (pre-‐sales, sales, and aftersales). In terms of the internal objectives, it concerns the costs and the working capital that are involved in supplying the customers in the chain. These are the framework conditions for setting up a distribution network. Especially as a result of the digitization of customers and the changes in customer behavior, these external objectives are changing (Shopping2020, 2014). Consumers are buying more online. With the advent of nano stores (Blanco & Fransoo, 2013), shops are receiving smaller and smaller shipments more and more often. To be able to compete with web stores, fashion retailers are presenting new collections more and more often. E-‐commerce in the B2B market is only now really starting to develop. As construction sites in cities get
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smaller and smaller, supplies need to be brought in more often and delivered right on time. In the future, seniors who want to keep living at home will get customized healthcare logistics at home. Processes For deliveries to customers in cities, there are several types of possible distribution networks:
• Directly from the shippers to the customer(s) • Consolidation of freight flows of shippers upstream in the logistics chain. • Consolidation of freight flows of multiple shippers and logistics service
providers downstream through urban consolidation centers • Consolidation of freight flows of multiple shippers and logistics service
providers downstream through urban consolidation centers • Consolidation of freight flows of multiple shippers via stores or pick-‐up
points within an urban area. As an example, the possibilities for construction logistics are given in Table 2 (Quak et al., 2011). Logistics concept
Load characteristics Transport characteristics
Solutions
FTL thick flows
Initial phase of construction projects Sand, gravel, prefab
Direct delivery; Out full, empty back
Preferred network for construction traffic; Consolidation of extra-‐urban traffic; Multimodal Integrated distribution network
LTL thin flows
Pallets (load carrier) Trucks not fully loaded (low utilization rate)
Innovative construction; Consolidation at the source; Consolidation at an urban consolidation center; Outsourcing of construction logistics
Parcels Parcels Trucks not fully loaded (low utilization rate)
Consolidation at the source; Consolidation at an urban consolidation center; Outsourcing of construction logistics; Mobile storage container (construction finishing box)
Rush orders Parcels Ad hoc, rush (very low utilization rate)
Outsourcing to courier; Collection points
Returns Clay, rubble, construction waste
Out empty, back full
Preferred network for construction traffic; Consolidation of extra-‐urban traffic;
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Multimodal Integrated distribution network; Combicontainer for moving things to and from the site.
Table 2. Distribution networks for construction logistics (Quak et al., 2011). Then there is the question of which modality or modalities are used for transport within the distribution network (e.g. cargo tricycle, delivery van, truck, or boat) and which fuel technology is used.
Important factors in setting up a distribution network include: the company’s strategy, the customer demands that the company wants to respond to, the desired degree of flexibility, the margin on products, the production cycle, and the product characteristics such as value density and packing density that determine the distribution costs (Van Goor et al., 2014). Planning and control Tactical and operational planning and control ensure that the shipments reach the receiver on time and with the appropriate use of resources. Planning and control concerns decisions about the deployment of personnel and the scheduling of vehicles and warehouse processes, but also about the charging of electric vehicles. In terms of city logistics, this planning and control covers the entire chain, often involving multiple parties that work together. Data alignment in logistics chains is a condition for the sharing of planning data. Information and communications technology The tactical and operational planning and control requires data about the shipments, the available capacities, and the routes: transport management
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systems (TMS). These systems are increasingly linked with local traffic systems of the government that give relevant information about traffic using open data. Giving road users tailored driving recommendations can contribute towards a better flow of traffic, and road users will also be prepared to adjust their driving style on the basis of those recommendations. Soon the receiver will get real-‐time information about the shipment and its expected arrival time and can even change the delivery address while the shipment is already under way. A trend in the development of ICT is the advent of location-‐based applications, agent-‐based software, and systems for the exchange of freight between companies (and increasingly also between private individuals). Well-‐known applications include Uber and GoGoVan. Logistics organization In terms of the logistics organization, it concerns the way in which the tasks for the planning and control of the transport flows are anchored in the organization, the competencies of the employees involved, and how parties in the logistics chain work together. Local government policy Local government policy determines the playing field by means of delivery windows, vehicle restrictions, the arrangement of public spaces (including loading and unloading bays), late night and early morning distribution, low-‐emission zones, the amount of space that is available for logistics consolidation centers, the available charging infrastructure for electric vehicles, the number of quays that are available for the loading and unloading of boats, and the open data that is made available for local traffic control and dynamic traffic management aimed at improving the flow. Supralocal government policy Among other things, supralocal government policy determines hours-‐of-‐service regulations, vehicle specifications, and the availability of open data for dynamic traffic management. An integrated approach to city logistics also requires a careful consideration of the business model. There is no future for solutions based entirely on subsidies. Earning money with city logistics One of the problems in the implementation of new concepts for city logistics is the lack of a business model: they don’t earn any money. As Quak & Balm (2014) put it:
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Small scale, local demonstrations of which the outcomes are considered to be only appropriate within a specific context occur quite often in the field of city logistics. Various local demonstrations usually show a solution’s technical and operational feasibility. These often subsidized demonstrations do not have long-‐term potential due to the lack of thought on their business models, i.e. the financial feasibility. To make a solution really work in practice a viable business model is required.
The use of business models such as Canvas (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2010; Turblog, 2011; Pauli, 2014) can support the development of a business model. The Business Model Canvas is a powerful instrument to identify the business model in a transparent and comprehensible way (see Fig. 2). In city logistics, these business models also often have characteristics of public-‐private partnerships.
Figure 2. Business Model Canvas (Quak & Balm, 2014).
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Checklist for the Business Model Canvas 1. Customer Segments What specific customer groups does the company want to serve? What are the needs of those customer groups? 2. Value Proposition What distinctive value does the company offer? What problems does the company help to solve? Those can be both the current and the future needs. Why should these customers do business with the company (and not with someone else)? This is the value proposition. 3. Customer Relationships How does the company maintain contact with the various customer segments? How does each aspecific customer segment want the company to maintain contact with them? Which type of contact is the right one and the most cost-‐effective for each segment? 4. Channels How are (groups of) customers kept abreast of the range of services offered? How do they best experience the value proposition? How can they buy and get the range of services offered? 5. Revenue Streams How does the company earn money? And in the future? How can it develop supplementary sources of income? 6. Key Resources Which resources are essential to create the value proposition? To maintain customer relationships? To get new customers? 7. Key Activities Which core activities are essential to create or strengthen the value proposition? To maintain customer relationships? To get new customers? 8. Partners Which private and public partnerships are essential to make or co-‐create the offer ? Which partners are crucial to ensure even more success? 9. Cost Structure Which costs are essential to ensure that the business model will work? Which resources and core activities are the most costly? Which costs are fixed, and which are variable?
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7. Applied research The Faculty of Technology at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) has a research program that extends beyond the faculty itself: Urban Technology. As one of the spearhead programs of the HvA, Urban Technology focuses on researching, designing, and realizing smart solutions for the challenges that major cities will face in the future. In this broad research program, the Faculty of Technology works together with two other faculties at the HvA: Economics and Management and Digital Media and Creative Industries. The broader Logistics research program focuses on two themes that are closely connected with Metropoolregio Amsterdam (MRA), the umbrella organization of municipalities that form the Amsterdam metropolitan area: Mainport Logistics and City Logistics. The Logistics research program at the HvA is closely connected to the national Centre of Expertise Logistiek (“Center of Expertise for Logistics”), of which the HvA fulfills the role of secretary, and with the regional KennisDC (“Knowledge Distribution Center”) in Amsterdam. Within the Urban Technology research program, the City Logistics research program is linked to the research theme of Smart Mobility & Logistics. The focus lies on designing technological solutions for sustainable mobility to ensure the city remains accessible and connected. The research program is also linked to the showcase project E-‐mobility and City Logistics, in which researchers in the Smart Mobility & Logistics and Smart Energy Systems programs are working together on the smart use of electric vehicles for urban distribution in the Amsterdam metropolitan area. Applied research within the Faculty of Technology Technology helps to create the world of tomorrow. That will require research that is related to practical applications and problems in practice. Applied research contributes to the improvement and innovation of professional practice, to the quality of professional education, and to the quality of teachers and students. In addition to preparing students to be knowledgeable professionals, conducting applied research is one of the core activities through which the Faculty of Technology at the HvA is helping to create the world of tomorrow. Applied research differs from classic theoretical research in that it investigates practical issues from the field and involves a close cooperation with the professional practice. The research is nevertheless methodologically sound and in line with academic knowledge. Indeed, the added value of applied research lies in the fact that bridges the gap between theoretical knowledge and day-‐to-‐day professional practice.
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Applied research has four characteristics:
1. It is rooted in professional practice The strength of applied research lies in large part in the way it is set up and carried out: in close cooperation with professional practice via networks and collaborative relationships. The research being done at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) has a clearly recognizable regional dimension thanks to its connection with MRA’s Kennis- en Innovatieagenda (“Knowledge and Innovation Agenda”).
2. It forms a bridge between science and professional practice
One of the objectives of applied research is to translate scientific knowledge into professional practice. It is through research that the practical applicability of scientific insights is put to the test and made concrete. As such, applied research plays an important role in increasing the readiness of new technologies with an eye to their market introduction. In the process, applied research not only draws from the body of knowledge but also adds new knowledge to that.
3. It is methodologically sound
Applied research uses sound methods and meets the current standards in terms of validity and reliability. In addition, it tries to make the results generalizable as much as possible. Part of the research takes place in collaboration with research universities, other universities of applied sciences, and knowledge institutions such as the Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TNO).
4. It has an impact on society
Applied research contributes to the professionalization and innovative force of industry and government bodies. This active contribution has a visible impact that underscores the social engagement of the Faculty of Technology at the HvA.
Research also takes place in the classroom setting. In the Faculty of Technology, research is carried out by professors, teachers with a research task, doctoral candidates, and students, in collaboration with and at the request of professionals in the field.
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Research on City Logistics The City Logistics research program focuses on the following themes: E-mobility and City Logistics In the framework of the showcase project E-‐mobility and City Logistics, potentially promising sectors are being identified in terms of the electric transport of both goods and people. For city logistics, for example, the possibilities for parcel deliveries and the distribution of goods to hotels, restaurants, and cafés are being studied. Researchers are looking into which type of charging infrastructure is needed to facilitate and encourage businesses to use electric transport, but also investigating how best to achieve that. In addition, the day-‐to-‐day use of electric transport by businesses is being monitored. E-mobility and City Logistics research project The rise and necessity of electric transportation is dependent on numerous factors such as technical possibilities, acceptance, government policy, costs and benefits, the environment, business risks, and data. For that reason, the project focuses on various aspects within five different work packages (WPs). WP1. Inventory of transport flows Which types of vehicles deserve to have priority (with an eye to achieving better air quality)? And in which transport flows are those vehicles used? Those flows include the delivery of supplies to restaurants, cafés, and hotels, parcel deliveries, the collection of waste, the stocking of retail stores, and the provision of maintenance services and municipal services, but also construction logistics flows. It makes sense to distinguish between and prioritize the different transport flows on the basis of local bottlenecks within the city. Result: a multi-‐criteria table including a ranking of transport flows. WP2. Feasibility analysis in case studies What are the opportunities, obstacles, and conditions for electric transport for the important sectors based on their supply profile, costs and benefits, and user
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experience, among other things? Result: detailed insight into the opportunities, obstacles, and conditions for a successful transition to electric transport. WP3. Development of a charging infrastructure for city logistics What type of charging infrastructure will be necessary in the Amsterdam metropolitan area to facilitate and encourage the use of electric transportation? To what extent can a substantial part of city logistics (electric transportation) be serviced with a limited basic infrastructure (i.e. hotspots)? Where are those hotspots situated? Which requirements do the hotspot charging points need to meet? Result: maps of hotspots in Amsterdam (based on various growth scenarios) and a specification of requirements for hotspot charging points. WP4. Monitoring A thorough evaluation will be essential in order to be able to identify the obstacles, the opportunities, and the conditions for success in terms of the use of electric transport. It will contribute to the accumulation and transfer of knowledge. What are the experiences of companies, drivers, automobile manufacturers, and municipalities? How should we record and share the lessons learned? Considering the growth in the number of electric transport pilots in the logistics sector (including PostNL, Nissan, and Heineken), the need for (consistent) monitoring for the sake of evaluation and the exchange of knowledge is great. Research question: How do you set up a consistent monitoring framework? Can we develop a standard protocol? In addition, the existing capacity for monitoring (the use of charging points) can be used to study and optimize the charging behavior of logistics service providers. Result: a monitoring protocol and multiple evaluative studies. WP5. Design studies How will the design of vehicles, charging solutions, and logistics concepts look in the future? This comprises multiple subprojects dealing with subquestions stemming from WP2, WP3, and WP4. Result: the design and construction of prototypes in MRA’s own testing ground. Public procurement Local authorities are among the largest employers in the Netherlands. Their training courses, departments, and services are spread across hundreds of locations throughout their territory. Every day, those locations are supplied with paper for printers, food and beverages, maintenance products, cleaning supplies, paving stones for sidewalks, and much, much more (Balm et al., 2015). And every day, those locations also produce considerable waste flows. This leads to a huge number of small-‐scale deliveries in cities and many trucks and delivery vans at the door. Some 5 to 10% of the deliveries in cities are thought to have a public institution as their destination. This research project analyzes whether or not that supply could be made smarter and cleaner by consolidation freight flows at the suppliers’ or at urban distribution centers, by having them delivered at night or by organizing
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deliveries by boat via canals. The focal points of this project on public procurement are the collaboration with suppliers, the kinds of information that are provided to support the decision-‐making process, and the purchasing behavior of public organizations (Hogeschool van Amsterdam, 2014 and 2015c). This research project is being carried out in collaboration with the UvA/HvA Facility Services, the City of Rotterdam, and the City of Amsterdam. Construction logistics To facilitate further research on smart, zero-‐emission construction logistics, a number of research topics have been formulated (Van Merrienboer, 2013):
• The development of calculation models that contractors and bidders can use to compare alternative distribution network during the bidding phase and during the collaboration with subcontractors, suppliers, and logistics service providers.
• The realization of paperless processes in the chain of contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and logistics service providers (and principals).
• Gain-‐sharing and cost-‐sharing models between contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers in connection with joint logistics operations such as logistics hubs and outsourcing to logistics service providers.
• The linking of the Building Information Model (BIM) to the tactical and operational logistics planning in the construction chain.
• Using the most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) procedure. This research program is taking place in collaboration with the Utrecht
University of Applied Sciences, the UvA/HvA Facility Services, TNO, Amsterdam Smart City, and construction-‐industry trade organization Bouwend Nederland, among others.
Food for the City In collaboration with the Mainport Logistics research program, a research program dealing with food has been developed. The themes covered in this program include the sustainable logistics and processing of food in the
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Amsterdam metropolitan area, closing food systems loops, making urban farming initiatives more effective, and doing spatial planning for urban farming (Van der Schrier & Levelt, 2015). Topics that are also relevant but that will only be dealt with in a later phase include how the demand for food will look in the future (considering demographic developments and consumer trends) and how food security can be guaranteed in the event of disasters or other emergencies in the region. E-commerce The effects of web stores on urban mobility are currently being studied in a collaboration with the Online Entrepreneurship research group of the Faculty of Economics and Management (Weltevreden & Rotem-‐Mindali, 2009).
Dealing with stakeholders When it comes to traffic in the city, everyone is an expert with an often unvarnished opinion. When the plans for the “shared space” setup for bicyclists and pedestrians behind Amsterdam’s Central Station were presented in August 2015, for example, more than 88% of the local Amsterdam TV channel (AT5) viewer though it was a bad idea. Even the experts were divided as to the effectiveness of the setup and where best to apply the principle. That is hardly very promising. Amsterdam is getting more and more crowded. To maintain a balance in Amsterdam we will need to learn to share the space with each other – and with our guests. Since actual practice involves so many different actors, a good balance must be found, when weighing possible solutions, between seemingly conflicting interests. The Multi-‐actor, Multi-‐Criteria Analysis (MAMCA) enables researchers and policy makers to evaluate various different alternatives (policy measures, scenarios, technologies, etc.) in relation to the objectives of the various different actors who are involved in the decision-‐making process. In this way, actors are explicitly included in the analysis. As developed by Macharis (2000, 2005, and 2007) and Macharis et al. (2016), the MAMCA method makes explicit the objectives of the various parties involved, which leads to a better understanding of preferences of
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all those parties. Involving important actors in the analysis will increase the chances that the proposed solution will be accepted at the end of the evaluation process (Van Duin, 2012). Since actual practice involves so many different actors, a good balance must be found, when weighing possible solutions, between seemingly conflicting interests. The MAMCA consists of two phases (Macharis, 2005). The first phase is primarily analytical with the goal of gathering any information that is needed to carry out the analyses. The second phase is the synthetic or operational phase and consists of the actual analysis. The result is an evaluation of the various different alternatives on the basis of the preferences of the actors involved. The analysis provides a clear sense of the advantages or disadvantages of certain measures or concepts from the perspective of the different groups of actors. This provides very relevant information for implementation strategies and guidelines when dealing with projects and problems related to mobility and transport. The MAMCA method is now widely used in both research and education.
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8. The future of sustainable city logistics Clean and sustainable cities are appealing places to live, to work, to enjoy life, and – not least – to invest in. Sustainable city logistics needs to contribute to more livable and appealing cities with zero-‐emission vehicles that better match the size of the city, but also to the consolidation of freight flows and the use of waterways for the transport of goods to and from the city. A successful approach will assume substantial flows of goods within cities: construction, hospitality, waste, and parcel deliveries (to consumers, companies, and institutions). In the future there will also be a sharp rise in the number of deliveries made to seniors at home. In designing city logistics solutions, one needs to have an overall and integrated view of the (different actors’) objectives with regard to city logistics, the distribution network, and the planning and control of that network, but also of the processes and the information and communications technology for the planning and of who does what in the organization. Local and supralocal government policy is another key factor in city logistics. Many initiatives for city logistics start out with government subsidies. However, such initiatives often end as soon as the government money has been exhausted. An integrated approach to city logistics means that the business model also needs to be carefully thought out. There is no future for solutions based entirely on subsidies. Cleaner city logistics is about transport that is not only zero emission, but also quieter and safer. It could involve electric cars and cargo tricycles, for example; 50% of the local-‐for-‐local shipments can be done with cargo tricycles (Cyclelogistics, 2014). Logistics service providers are placing their bets on bicycle couriers. Those won’t be cyclists carrying bags on their back, however, but rather electric cargo tricycles with considerable load capacity. Some 1,000 to 2,000 of those couriers will soon be riding around in Amsterdam and you can count on this development generating as much of a discussion as the current one about whether or not motor scooters should still be allowed to use bicycle lanes. Distribution by water is also a cleaner form of city logistics. PostNL is busy developing floating depots that can enter Amsterdam by water, enabling deliveries by cargo tricycle or small electric vehicles to customers in the city. Van Keulen, an innovative construction materials wholesaler in Amsterdam, wants to team up with Mokum Mariteam and Blom Dekschuitenverhuur (a barge rental company) to supply construction sites from the water. More than anything, sustainable city logistics is connected: the vehicles are connected via the Internet of Things. There is currently a lot of experimentation going on with dynamic traffic management systems. The metropolitan areas of
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Amsterdam, Assen, and Helmond-‐Eindhoven are leading the way in that regard. With “connected navigation”, trucks and delivery vans are provided with real-‐time information about traffic congestion and green waves to entice them to opt for particular routes that will result in fewer emissions and less nuisance for residents. Traditional loading and unloading bays in a street, often occupied by vehicles that don’t belong there, can be replaced by virtual loading and unloading bays along the side of the street. Those would only become actual bays if vehicles that are logged in to the traffic management systems request them. That would prevent loading and unloading from taking place in the street and stopping the flow of traffic. And while there is certainly room for debate about the rise of companies like Uber, one thing that sort of company is very good at is using data and intelligent algorithms to determine where the hotspots in a city are and where to position cars or have them drive to limit the amount of empty mileage as much as possible. This ensures more efficient deliveries and less mileage. A lot can be learned from such companies when it comes to sustainable city logistics. New city logistics concepts need to be developed that will make customers feel they are getting better service. Companies are actively working on that. In addition, the technology involved in both vehicles and traffic management systems needs to be developed further. There, too, hopeful developments can be seen. And, finally, these concepts and techniques also need to be able to be applied. There needs to be room for that, and – most of all – there needs to be consistent government policy. Market parties make investments in this kind of innovation for a period of at least ten years. Policy changes along with the changing of the guard, and even then, a city alderman might dilute ambitions under pressure from city council members or complaining neighbors. Or ambitious policy may get throttled as plans become more concrete. In Amsterdam, for example, a policy plan aimed at getting 25% of the freight transports to take place by boats on canals became impossible to implement as a result of the Bestemmingsplan Water (the city’s zoning plan for water), which precluded any expansion of transport by water. And in a number of cities, proposed low-‐emission zones were ultimately either postponed or never even designated as such.
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In the end, the key to future-‐oriented city logistics lies in enticing, encouraging, and sometimes even pushing the market and in responding with an open mind to whatever innovations may emerge from the market. And that particular key is in the hands of the government. Since in practice many different actors are involved, it is necessary to find a good balance between seemingly conflicting interests when weighing possible solutions. Businesses are more than eager to work on improving urban distribution. A timely and unimpeded transport of goods to and from cities for stores, hotels, restaurants, and cafés, construction sites, and residents will only be possible as the result of a joint effort by the business community and government bodies. Companies with a lot of activities in city centers should meet more often with the municipalities so that knowledge about just-‐in-‐time urban distribution can be included in policymaking and spatial planning, in the creation of low-‐emission zones, in the formulation of new traffic regulations, or when measures are taken to reduce emissions of particulate matter.
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About the author Dr. Walther Ploos van Amstel (born in 1962) is the professor of city logistics at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA). From 2002 through 2009 he was a professor of logistics at the Netherlands Defence Academy (NLDA) in Breda and Den Helder. For over 25 years he as been active as a management consultant in the field of logistics, supply chain management and international distribution. He is primarily concerned with logistics process innovations, the introduction of supply chain concepts into practice, intermodal distribution networks, cooperation within logistics chains and networks, service logistics, sustainable logistics, chain management, intelligent logistics concepts and risk management in logistics chains. He completed his doctoral research on the performance of logistics managers at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam in 2002. Among the other honorary positions he holds, he was chairman of the jury of the Dutch Logistics Award of the Logistics Management Association (VLM), a member of the jury of the Thuiswinkel Awards, a member of the expert group of the Council for the Environment and Infrastructure (RLI) and a specialist partner at the Inventory Management Competence Centre (IMCC). He also serves on the board of a number of logistics service providers.
Walther Ploos van Amstel is a regular columnist for Logistiek.nl, Delaatstemeter and Twinklemagazine, among other media. You might run into Walther working as a house music DJ in his rare moments of free time.