VALORACIÓN

Every change in urban freight transport operations impacts the two types of urban freight transport stakeholders (i.e. commercial and public stakeholders). From an economic perspective, supply chains are made as efficient as possible. To reduce costs goods are often not produced where they are consumed causing an increasing demand for transport, including first- and last-mile transport. This transport also comes with negative side effects. We partially count on market forces to organise this transport as efficient as possible. However, there are commercial stakeholder characteristics and mutual interactions that lead to market failure. The lack of contractual obligations between retailer and carrier (Stichting Leve De Stad, 2005) and the low market power of carriers (Holguín-Veras et al., 2014), for example, lead to inefficiencies which confront public stakeholders with additional and unnecessary negative impacts. Local authorities tend to take measures to counter these impacts. Research revealed, however, that both public measures and private solutions do not always have the desired societal and environmental outcome and might even have the opposite effect. Sathaye, Harley & Madanat (2010), for example, question the positive environmental effects of rescheduling deliveries to off-hours. Also time-access restrictions and heavy freight vehicle bans were found to increase freight traffic externalities (Quak & de Koster, 2009; Quereshi, Taniguchi & Yamada, 2012; Holguín-Veras, Cruz & Ban, 2013; Groothedde, Rustenburg & Uil, 2003). The research for the impact of implementing UCCs on the number of urban freight vehicles that is part of this dissertation revealed that not all impact assessments observed a positive effect and that the impact for the entire urban freight traffic system is limited (See Chapter 2). It shows that policy makers have to be careful when taking urban freight transport measures and have to be sure that there is enough insight in the various impacts of these measures.

8.3.2.1 Policy implications

The work carried out for this PhD dissertation contributes to that insight which gives rise to the following policy implications:

- There is a need for high-quality data that cover the entire urban freight spectrum and that are collected periodically. This need was already expressed in other research (See for example Lindholm, 2012) and was confirmed during the research into the impact of implementing UCCs on the number of urban freight vehicle kilometres (See Chapter 2). Being responsible for the data collection for both the

Mobile Depot pilot and the off-hour deliveries pilot in Brussels, I also personally experienced the lack of publicly available urban freight transport data whereby it is not possible to measure real impacts (without huge investments in data collection) but forces to calculate impacts based on derived indicators and variables. Striving for a more efficient urban freight transport system from an urban perspective requires the enabling of evaluating the impact of changes to that system on an urban scale.

- Evaluating alternatives from a multi-stakeholder perspective generates new insights and exposes possible stumbling blocks. Implementing urban freight measures will involve some sort of evaluation (be it ex-ante or ex-post, extensive or not). In their decision to implement a certain measure, local policy makers will aim to reconcile the objectives of commercial and public stakeholders since they want to keep their city as attractive as possible by providing a good business climate and favourable living conditions. In this PhD research, MAMCA was used to evaluate urban freight alternatives from a multi-stakeholder perspective which gave insight in the overall stakeholder support for a certain alternative as well as in the possible stumbling blocks for individual stakeholder groups.

- Implementing a UCC is not the only urban freight measure leading to better consolidated freight flows. There seems to be a trend among local policy makers in the type of urban freight measure they prefer. Ten to fifteen years ago, there was a focus on UCCs and all types of access restrictions (European Commission, 2009; MDS Transmodal, 2012). Today, there seems to be renewed interest in UCCs and much attention for off-hour deliveries. Finding trends in urban freight transport policy making was not within the scope of this PhD research, but a look at the policy papers and freight plans of the three Belgium regional governments (the country where I live) supports this idea. Two out of three literally refer to UCCs and off-hour deliveries as the preferential measures to come to more sustainable urban freight transport in Belgium (Gouvernement wallon, 2014; Weyts 2014). In the third region, the Brussels-Capital Region, the two measures are part of a set of feasible measures explained in a dedicated freight plan (Brussel Mobiliteit, 2013). This PhD research identified other measures (apart from implementing a UCC) that can also lead to better consolidated urban freight flows, e.g. cooperation between different logistics service providers. In a context where it seems difficult to find a viable business model for UCCs and where the urban scale impact of a UCC can be questioned these findings urge local policy makers to keep an open mind.

- There is need for dedicated and integrated policy making on off-hour deliveries. Today, in Europe, there is an unbalanced focus on the noise impact of off-hour deliveries. Partially justified since noise nuisance severely decreases quality of life. Analysing deliveries that already take place during off-hours revealed however that it can be put in practice, even in different industries (Chapter 6). The pilot in Brussels (Chapter 7) confirmed the results of other off-hour delivery pilots: there is an economic benefit to off-hour deliveries and when measures are taken to avoid noise nuisance for local residents, there are little or no complaints. There can be stakeholder support for a shift to off-hour deliveries. To further explore that stakeholder support, there is need for dedicated and integrated policy making. Noise measurements in Brussels revealed that the noise produced by manoeuvring trucks is not within the Noise Abatement Law of the Brussels-Capital Region, even by day. Today, this law is used to prohibit off-hour deliveries in Brussels while it was not designed from that perspective. Furthermore, a shift to off-hour deliveries has many other impacts (both positive and negative) which are now more or less ignored by policy makers. A more integrated approach would allow to shift policy making on this topic away from allowing or prohibiting off-hour deliveries just based on noise impact. The impact, for example, on traffic safety and truck drivers still is not fully explored because analyses are based on small-scale pilots.

This thesis pays attention to two types of urban freight transport measures (i.e. consolidation and off-hour deliveries) by exploring how they can be applied in a sustainable way. It is clear that these are not the only two possible measures (Chapter 3). Urban freight transport policy making should keep an open mind about all types of measures since not all measures can be successfully applied in all types of cities. Furthermore, the two measures in this thesis address the symptoms of an increasing demand for urban freight transport. The thesis did not pay attention to measures or mechanisms that influence the demand for urban freight transport (e.g. spatial planning).

8.3.2.1 Implications for private urban freight actors

- Higher loading rates and fewer freight vehicle kilometres can be achieved by collaboration across and along supply chains. Supply chain actors constantly search for efficiency gains in both door-to-door and last-mile operations. Higher loading rates and fewer freight vehicle kilometres would allow them to save on fuel and wage costs. Fragmentation, however, is apparent in long-haul transport, and despite policy support and public investments to foster inter-modality, modal shift and cargo consolidation, load factors on long-haul routes have stalled at roughly 50% for the last decade (Doherty & Hoyle, 2009). Furthermore, the last mile is the least consolidated leg, though it often accounts for the largest parts of the costs. The rising popularity of e-commerce may further fragment deliveries as different deliveries by different shippers are made to the same delivery address by different underutilized vehicles. This PhD research demonstrates that, also in the last mile, shipments can be consolidated through horizontal and vertical collaboration across and along supply chains.

- Shifting deliveries to off-hours is attractive because it saves time and fuel. The off-hour delivery pilot evaluated in this dissertation originated from the wish of two Belgian retailers to shift some deliveries to their supermarkets in Brussels to off-hours which is not authorized today. To them, the pilot confirmed that shifting deliveries would save time and fuel. Research by Holguín-Veras et al. (2005) revealed that not all last mile supply chain actors are convinced that such a shift is attractive and that, if bans on off-hour deliveries in European cities were lifted, the share of off-hour deliveries would not increase significantly. This PhD research confirms that there are significant gains to be made in the retail sector. Second, the research also identifies specific freight flows that could economically benefit from a shift to off-hour deliveries based on existing literature and on interviews with general and logistics managers of companies that are already involved in off-hour deliveries. Important indicators for a successful shift to off-hour deliveries are the need for proof of delivery, value of the goods, location of the receiver, company size, shelf life of the goods and the relationships among senders, private or for-hire carriers and receivers. - There is a need for high-quality urban freight data and private actors would also benefit from

contributing to that. The need for high-quality urban freight data was already expressed in other research (See for example Lindholm, 2012) and was confirmed during the research into the impact of implementing UCCs on the number of urban freight vehicle kilometres (See Chapter 2). To evaluate new concepts, researchers do not only need data that provide insight in the societal and environmental impact of the concept but they also need data to characterize the concept and to evaluate economic impact. These data are usually owned by private urban freight actors and they are reluctant to share these data. The two pilot evaluations in this dissertation confirm that insight in the economic impact of a certain solution allows evaluators to really take into account the objectives of private stakeholders and to make public stakeholders aware of feasible solutions and important stumbling blocks for private actors.