Overview
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.
Funding
Results
Behaviour change Focus on behaviour change has resulted in a number of positive results. In the case of the London Boroughs Consolidation Centre, the partner’s understanding of the need for behaviour change amongst stakeholders resulted in clear changes in patterns of behaviour amongst staff, as well as identification of further changes required. Whilst the boroughs’ staff responded well to delivery changes and demonstrated a willingness to change their ordering behaviour, suppliers are often more reticent to respond to market changes and relinquish control of the supply chain. Practical solutions – demonstrators London Euston In 2012, a freight train operated by Eddie Stobart and Colas Rail, delivered goods for Sainsbury’s on an overnight service from the Midlands into Euston station, for onward out-of-hours delivery to stores in Central London, using smaller goods vehicles more suited to the urban environment. As a result of the initial trial, a further pilot was undertaken in 2014 involving TNT, transporting goods by train into Euston station for final delivery by electric vehicles. Thanks to the original trial, and its direct involvement in the latest trial, TNT is keen to understand whether the rail offer can help them to deliver a more reliable service to their customers. A move towards a rail based delivery service would align well with the UK government’s policy to encourage greater "mode shift" of freight from road to rail. The Netherlands The pilot is currently being tested in Nijmegen and Maastricht, where consumers sign up to receive deliveries at their homes at times that are convenient for them, thus reducing the number of failed deliveries, as well as congestion, and harmful emissions. The partner hopes to reach 100 consumers in each of the cities where the pilot is being tested, thus further increasing the reach of the pilot’s impact. The partner, Eco2City, have also been “spreading the word” with local authorities in Antwerp, Copenhagen and Oslo, sharing their experience of city logistics with the hope of creating a network of European city logistics. Camden Since the demonstrator trial inception in January 2014, the partner has been able to observe a clear reduction in the number of vehicles delivering supplies to the boroughs, and a reduction in harmful emissions, such as CO2, NOX and PM. The data relating to the pilots’ evaluations will be provided by Tudor as part of their on-going assessment of the demonstrators. Brussels Following the launch of the Brussels pilot, Brussels Mobility set up a platform to bring together representatives from the Region, the City, shopkeepers, the Chamber of Commerce, etc. with the aim to keep the stakeholders involved in the development of the pilot. Support is being gathered to further increase the reach of the service offered by the pilot. By reducing the number of lorries on the road, congestion in the city will decrease, and the quality of life for the residents will improve. Shopkeepers, on the other hand are already benefitting from more efficient and timely deliveries. Perth As a direct result of their involvement in the project, the Scottish partners are currently pursuing a business development approach to establishing a logistics service centre supported by Eco2City who are offering their experience in launching similar, bottom up logistics services.