Freight transport of consumer goods has a global dimension with the “first mile” element of the supply chain often in a different country to the “last mile” that reaches out to the end customer. This element is inefficient and costly to businesses and consumers. The urban density of the NWE programme area, while especially vulnerable to congestion and pollution, offers excellent conditions to demonstrate that new approaches can be effective for consumers and economically viable for companies.

The project will promote new business practice, so far only tested at research pilot scale, for delivering individual consumer goods to homes, shops and distribution centres. It will simplify last mile logistics and embed new ways of delivering goods by changing behaviour of private companies, the public sector and consumers. Globalisation and e-commerce change how we shop. Home deliveries of very small loads with a first call failure rate of around 60% lead to increased emissions and congestion in urban areas. LaMiLo will create a set of coherent and interconnected tools, strategies and demonstrators to prove operational viability to the private sector.

The project addresses three key challenges inherent in market logistics:

• Coordination and collaboration between private logistics businesses and the public sector to encourage modal shift to rail and water, and consolidation of local, low emission deliveries.
• Information disconnect between intermediaries and customers, resulting in failed last mile deliveries and delay of goods to end users.
• Externalities including negative economic and health impacts of urban congestion and air and noise pollution by HGVs, exacerbated by failed deliveries.