Urban consolidation centres aim to rationalize last mile deliveries and decrease total vehicle kilometres for urban freight transport. However, their long-term viability is difficult to reach due to challenges with commercial feasibility, additional transhipment costs, and allocating costs and benefits across stakeholders. Recently, new concepts have emerged like downscaling centres, reducing infrastructure needs, receiver-based centres, and better supply chain integration including night deliveries to centres.

1. URBAN FREIGHT CONSOLIDATION CENTRES –
TRENDS, CHALLENGES, SOLUTIONS
Milena Janjevic, Qalinca Labs, Université Libre de Bruxelles
European Cycle Logistics Conference, San Sebastian, 15th October 2015

2. 2
Urban freight transport is essential for the city’s economy and liveability but is
also a source of important externalities….
PEOPLE
(Social Sustainability)
PROFIT
(Economic Sustainability)
PLANET
(Environmental Sustainability)
• Safety
• Noise (add 5dB to the
passenger traffic)
• Congestion contribution
(double parking)
• Congestion contribution (10-­
15% of travelled miles)
• Critical to support consuming
market: last mile accounts for
40% of the total transportation
costs
• 1/3 of transport Nox emissions
• ½ of particulate matter
emissions from transport
• 21% of CO2 emissions
Sources: Janjevic, Lebeau, 2013. Strategyfor the implementation of sustainable logistic concepts for the Brussels Capital Region ( No. Activity
report of 18 month of research). ULB, VUB, Innoviris, Brussels.

3. 3
Illustration: the urban link accounts for 1% of distance and 25% of logistical
costs
1 -­ Champs de coton
2 -­ Stockage de la matière première
3 -­ Filature et tissage
4 -­ Confection et lavage
5 -­ Entreposage
6 -­ Port d’expédition
7 -­ Port de transbordement
8 -­ Port de réception
9 -­ Plateforme logistique
10 -­ Distributeurs,
détaillants, clients
Example: textile industry supply chain China-­Europe
Source: CERTU, 2013. Transport de marchandises en ville : quels enjeux pour les collectivités ?

4. 4
Urban consolidation centres aim in rationalizing the last mile deliveries and
decreasing the total vehicles*km relevant to urban freight transport
Transport flows before and after
the implementation of the UCC
Source: Bruxelles Mobilité, 2012, ADEME, 2010
Number of deliveries and trips for Brussels
45%
10%
10%
10%
45%
80%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Deliveries Trips
Occasional
Branches
procurement
Consolidatio
n

5. 5
Urban consolidation centres are also an opportunity to adopt the vehicles used
for the last leg of distribution to the urban environment
ELCIDIS, La Rochelle Binnestadservice, Nijmengen

6. 6
There is a large number of implementation cases of urban consolidation centres
(mostly in Europe)
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
1970-­1975 1976-­1990 1991-­1995 1996-­2000 2001-­2005 2006-­2010
Start date of the UCCs
Source: Allen, J., Browne, M., Woodburn, A., Leonardi, J., 2012. The Role of Urban Consolidation Centres in Sustainable Freight Transport. Transport
Reviews 32, 473–490. doi:10.1080/01441647.2012.688074

7. 7
There are many variations of the UCC concepts… (1/2)
Examples: Construction material
UCCs in Heathrow and Stockholm
Construction project UCCs
Examples: La Rochelle, Nijmegen,
Bristol
UCCs serving a town/city
Examples: Meadowhall (Yorkshire),
Heathrow retail UCC
UCCs on single site
Source: Allen, J., Browne, M., Woodburn, A., Leonardi, J., 2012. The Role of Urban Consolidation Centres in Sustainable Freight Transport. Transport
Reviews 32, 473–490. doi:10.1080/01441647.2012.688074

8. 8
There are many variations of the UCC concepts… (2/2)
UCC Surface of the UCC (m2)
Micro-­Consolidation centre London 160
Motomachi UCC, Yokohama 330
Ecologis Brescia 400
Broadmead UCC, Bristom 465
The Green Link 750
La Rochelle UCC 800
Lucca 810
City Depot Brussels 1000
Padova UCC 1000
Monaco 1300
Leiden 1500
Beaugrenelle urban Logistics Space 2900
Source: own elaboration based on litterature review

9. 9
However, despite the significant interest from both the public and the private
sector, their long-­term viability is difficult to reach
Source: Lebeau et. al, 2015, Investigating support for Urban Consolidation Center in Brussels

10. 10
Challenge 1: Commercial feasibility (i.e. sufficient market for UCC)
Example: urban consolidation centre in Leiden Some figures
• Leiden: 117 000 inhabitants
• UCC surface: 1300 m2
• Expected impact: a daily reduction of
the number of commercial vehicles
from 24,000 to 5,000 (-­80% !)
• Break-­even: 600 shipments/day
• Maximum throughput reached: 90
shipments/day
Source: BESTUFS

11. 11
Challenge 2: Additional cost of transhipment
Source – urban distribution service Price
UCC1* • 2,5-­5 euros/parcel
• 10-­20 euros/pallet
Boudouin, 2006 • 3 euros/parcel
UCC La Rochelle • 3,80 euros/parcel
UCC Monaco • 4,90 euros/100kg
La Petite Reine • 2,50-­5 euros/delivery
Source: Own elaboration based on litterature review;; Browne, M., Woodburn, A., Allen, J., 2007. Evaluating the potentialfor urban consolidation centres.

12. 12
Challenge 3: Allocation of costs and benefits
+/-­ Change in cost of deliveries
-­ Loss of customer contact
+/-­ Change in cost of deliveries
-­ Monopolistic situation
+ Receiver-­oriented services

13. 13
Challenge 4: Lack of stakeholder support (1/2)
Brussels International Logistics Centre: the project…

14. 14
Challenge 4: Lack of stakeholder support (2/2)
Brussels International Logistics Centre: the reaction…

15. 15
Recently, there has been a regain of interest in the UCC concept and some new
concepts have emerged…
Ecologic, Brescia Citydepot, Brussels
Cityporto, Padova Binnenstadservice, Netherlands

16. 16
Concept 1: Downscaling the scope of the consolidation
Micro-­consolidation centre, London La Petite Reine, Paris
Source: Browne, M., Allen, J., Leonardi, J., 2011. Evaluating the use of an urban consolidation centre and electric vehiclesin central
London. IATSS Research 35, 1–6. doi:10.1016/j.iatssr.2011.06.002

17. 17
Concept 2: Reducing the necessary infrastructure
Example: Mobile depot by TNT Express in Brussels
Source: STRAIGHTSOL project, 2015

18. 18
Concept 3: Receiver-­based consolidation centres
Binnenstadservice, Netherlands Citydepot, Hasselt, Belgium
Some advantages for retailers participating in the UCC scheme
• Remote storage (potential to increase the sales surface in the shop)
• Single delivery for several suppliers (reduction of the time necessary to receiver the goods)
• Possibility to choose the delivery hours (potential to move them to off-­peak shopping periods)
• Public recognition (“green logistics”)
• Other services (e.g. home delivery)
• Management of the return logistics

19. 19
Concept 4: Better supply chain integration
• Labelling, packaging, pre-­retailing,
tracking and tracing, quality
control, etc.
Value-­added services
• Consolidation of goods
• Transhipment towards more
adapted vehicles
• Fast turnover of goods in the
consolidation centre
Transhipment point
• Remote stock of goods available
at request
• Increase in the sales area
• Better reactivity of the supply
chain
Remote storage
SUPPLY CHAIN INTEGRATION

20. 20
Concept 5: Night and off-­hour deliveries to the UCC
• Decreased travel time
• Decreased service time
Carriers
Receivers
• Increased reliability of the deliveries
• No need to extend the reception hours as in the
case of regular off-­hour deliveries

21. 21
Conclusion
Reduction of
time per journey
Improved
loading factor
Off-­hour
deliveries
Improved
delivery
reliability
Decreased
congestion
Improved
service quality
Decreased cost
of operations
Decreased CO2
and pollutant
emissions
Competitive
local economy
CITY
PERSPECTIVE
SUPPLY CHAIN
PERSPECTIVE
Value added-­
services