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City logistics has increasing importance in relation to the sustainable development of urban transport. It is therefore very important that all processes related to the city logistics should be optimally planned in advance. Many software companies offer a variety of software tools, which can be used for optimization and planning in city logistic tasks. This article aims to define and describe the various processes that take place in city logistics and then demonstrate, how selected software tools can help in optimizing the whole process of city logistics. Městská logistika má stále větší význam ve vztahu k udržitelnému rozvoji městské dopravy. Je proto velmi důležité, aby všechny procesy související s logistikou města byly optimálně předem naplánovány. Mnoho softwarových společností nabízí různé softwarové nástroje, které lze použít pro optimalizaci a plánování v úlohách městské logistiky. Tento článek si klade za cíl definovat a popsat různé procesy, které probíhají v městské logistice a následně ukázat, jak mohou vybrané softwarové nástroje pomoci při optimalizaci celého procesu městské logistiky.

Research on short and long distance freight transport artificially separates the segments of transport chains, which are interrelated and which might be better viewed as a continuum. The eight papers of this special issue aim to bridge this gap. The major disruptions in global supply chains of the last years brought to light the vulnerability of the transport system and the need for a more integrated approach for effective transport policies. This special issue explores some of the challenges facing freight transport in three research areas: supply chain studies, transport networks and warehouse location. It also identifies avenues for further research.

Crowdsourced delivery services (crowdshipping) represent a shipping alternative to traditional delivery systems, particularly suitable for e-commerce. Although some benefits in terms of reduced pollution and congestion could be obtained by replacing dedicated freight trips, the impacts of crowdshipping are unclear and depend on several factors such as the transport mode used, the match between supply and demand, length of detours, and possible induced demand. For example, private drivers could modify their existing routes or engage in new trips to pick up and drop off packages; similarly, public transport users could carry along packages on their trips and drop them off at lockers installed around the stations. In this paper, we analyze by means of a simulation-based approach the potential impacts of alternative implementation frameworks. In order to account more realistically for last-mile delivery operations, a hybrid dynamic traffic simulation is adopted such that the macroscopic features of traffic (triggering of congestion, queue spillbacks and interactions with traffic signals) are reproduced in combination with the microscopic features of delivery operations (delivery vehicles are tracked along their routes). The effects on traffic and emissions are investigated for the adoption of crowdshipping by carriers delivering parcels in the city center of Rome, Italy. Results show that not only is the mode employed by crowdshippers crucial for the sustainability of such a measure, but also operational aspects involving the length of detour, parking behavior, and daily traffic variations. Crowdsourced deliveries by car have generally higher negative impacts than corresponding deliveries by public transit. However, limiting the deviations of crowdshippers from the original trips, providing adequate parking options, and incentivizing off-peak deliveries, could significantly reduce crowdshipping externalities.

Urban delivering is facing some significant changes that are heading towards unsustainable scenarios. At the same time, local administrations as well as city planners are involved in promoting new solutions that can help to improve city sustainability and livability. In this context, electric micromobility could offer a valuable contribution. In fact, electric micromobility systems such as e-bikes and e-scooters, both at an individual level or as a shared service, could represent sustainable mobility options for city logistics, especially for specific classes of parcel delivery, users’ characteristics and travelled distances. Considering both the growth of e-commerce and the spreading of new options for delivering parcels (e.g., crowdshipping), electric micromobility (e-bikes and e-scooters) could support the penetration and acceptability of such new options, limiting the impacts of delivery operations. After analysis of the current e-commerce background and a review of the current delivery options to satisfy delivery demand, crowdshipping stands out. Thus, the potential shift from private transport to e-micromobility for crowdshipping is investigated, assuming that potential crowdshippers may, mainly, be commuters. The methodology is based on using probabilistic-behavioral models developed within random utility theory, which allow the potential shift towards e-micromobility for commuting to be forecasted. The models were calibrated in Rome, where more than 200 interviews with commuters were available.

E-grocery is the fastest growing e-commerce segment, while still a niche market. Notwithstanding the channel choice when buying groceries might have relevant transport and environmental implications, little attention is paid to demand analysis. The paper fills this research gap, by using stated preferences to estimate market shares for e-grocery, distinguishing between home deliveries and click&pick, using the in-store option as a reference, and by considering a case study in Norway. It investigates the role of various purchase characteristics (i.e. product price, service cost, lead-time, time window, travel time and product range) when choosing which purchase channel to use. Results suggest that the most important characteristics for consumers are related to price, in particular product price, but there is also significant heterogeneity in preferences within the sample. Scenario simulations allow estimating transport and environmental impacts deriving from channel market share changes. This information can be useful for developing both managerial strategies to increase e-grocery market share and public policy interventions to minimize negative externalities.

In this paper, we introduce a new city logistics problem arising in the last mile distribution of e-commerce. The problem involves two levels of routing problems. The first requires a design of the routes for a vehicle fleet located at the depots to transport the customer demands to a subset of the satellites. The second level concerns the routing of a vehicle fleet from the satellites to serve all of the customers. A feature of the problem is that customers may provide different delivery options, allowing them to pick up their packages at intermediate pickup facilities. The objective is to minimize the total distribution cost. To solve the problem, a hybrid multi-population genetic algorithm is proposed. An effective heuristic algorithm is designed to generate initial solutions, and several procedures are designed to better manage the population as well as exploit and explore the solution space. The proposed method is tested on a large family of instances, including a real-world instance; the computational results obtained show the effectiveness of the different components of the algorithm.

Despite the huge growth in online purchases, e-grocery (i.e. ordering grocery online) was still limited in scope in Italy so far. More recently, its growth has been substantial and 2020 witnessed a huge increase due to COVID-19-related mobility restrictions. In principle, e-grocery could reduce the number of shopping trips, yet an exponential increase in shipping and deliveries could have a negative impact on the environment. In order to explore the willingness to e-grocery, and delivery preferences (self-delivery, home delivered grocery or collected in a specific place) - and estimate their market shares - a stated preference survey was carried in Rome and Milan. Respondents were asked about their grocery shopping habits and to choose among different shopping and delivery options. Discrete choice modelling allows investigating preference heterogeneity and estimating willingness to pay measures. Main results indicate that respondents, characterised by distinct socio-economic, attitudinal, and geographical elements, react differently to attribute variations for alternative grocery shopping channels. Scenario simulations can help in defining successful business-strategies and possible solutions to external costs. Under this respect, results suggest that the best strategy to increase e-grocery shares in the two cities should be non-monetary, but rather aimed at expanding the product range available online.

Loading/unloading operations on streets are crucial to satisfy the daily delivery needs of goods in a city. The current approaches for designing the needed infrastructure for such operations are not comprehensive. It is the purpose of this paper to describe the basis and the use of an integral methodology for defining better loading/unloading bays in terms of location, capacity and number. The methodology is used in a congested Mexican medium size city: Queretaro. The procedure consists of several steps that start with the modeling of the freight generation in order to build scenarios under micro-simulation techniques, thus creating a potential solution under the consideration of such infrastructure as service areas. Having as inputs the number of attracted local freight trips; the commercial activity needs; the types of vehicles, and the geometry of the streets, the output from such procedure consists of a proposal for the ideal of such infrastructure in terms of its location, size and number. The use of such methodology could become a valuable tool for planners and practitioners in the field of urban logistics, to better manage the delivery of goods and the urban space in congested areas, further mitigating the nuisances due to urban freight.

Cities crave innovative logistics solutions dealing with the requirements of the ‘on demand economy’. The paper estimates the willingness to act as a crowdshipper (supply) and to buy a crowdshipping service (demand) to get goods delivered/picked-up in the last mile B2C e-commerce situation. Specifically, it innovates by considering an environmental-friendly crowdshipping based on the use of the mass transit network of the city where parcels customers/crowdshippers pick-up/drop-off goods in automated parcel lockers located either inside the transit stations or in the surroundings. This issue is very important since “standard” crowdshipping is usually not able to reduce congestion and polluting emissions due to the dedicated trips performed using private motorized vehicles. The paper rests on an extensive stated preference survey. The hypothetical scenarios used to acquire both demand (customers’) and supply (crowdshippers’) preferences make use of the most relevant attributes emerging from a preliminary investigation performed in the study context. The investigation is performed in the city of Rome and the metro is the transit system considered. The results are useful in understanding and quantifying the potential of this freight transport strategy for e-commerce in an urban context and in providing local policy makers with a good knowledge base for its future development.

Burkina Faso’nun deniz kıyısı bulunmamaktadır ve Batı Afrika’daki konumuyla bölgesel koridorların merkezi konumundadır. Burkina Faso’nun sadece karasal yapısı değil ayrıca gümrük çıkış noktalarına olan uzaklığı ortalamadan fazla olduğu için (yaklaşık 1.000 km limana uzaklık) ithalat ve ihracat maliyetlerine bir yük getirmektedir. Dolayısıyla, taşıma maliyetleri, transit zincirindeki herhangi bir verimsizliğin hassasiyetinin artmasına, gümrük idaresinde sınır ötesi bekleme sürelerini ve lojistik maliyetlerini artırmaktadır. Ancak aynı coğrafi konum Burkina Faso’yu, Batı Afrika için doğal bir geçiş merkezi olarak konumlandırmaktadır. Burkina Faso, karasal ülkeler olan Mali ve Nijer’e hizmet etmekte ve komşu ülkeleriyle (Togo, Nijer, Mali, Benin, Gana ve Fildişi Sahili) bölgesel ticaretin gelişimini desteklemektedir. Ticaret açısından baktığımızda Burkina Faso'nun sevkiyat için dört alternatif koridoru bulunmaktadır. Başkent Ouagadougou stratejik olarak bu koridorların kesişme noktasında yer almaktadır. Ulusal ve bölgesel yük taşımacılığı için bir geçiş noktası olmasının bir sonucu olarak, Ouagadougou, artan kamyon trafik kazaları, trafik sıkışıklığı, hava kirliliği ve gürültülü çevre gibi birçok kentsel lojistik sorunuyla karşı karşıya bulunmaktadır. Bu tez kapsamında, tüm bu faktörler göz önüne alınarak lojistik köyü kavramı Afrika bağlamında kara ülkesine odaklanılmıştırr. Bu çalışma aynı anda bir lojistik köyü yeri ve Ouagadougou şehri için ulaşım ağını seçmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Araştırma, hem potansiyel lojistik köyü konumlarını hem de ulaşım ağlarını değerlendirmek için bir AHP modeli önermektedir. Önerilen sistemin amacı Ouagadougou'daki kentsel lojistik problemlerini hafifletmek ve Burkina Faso'nun coğrafi konumundan faydalanma potansiyelini arttırmaktır. Bu araştırmanın bulguları, politika yön verenler, uygulayanlar ve akademisyenler için ilham verici bir rehber olabilir. Ayrıca kara ülkesi Burkina Faso'daki mevcut literatürün zenginleştirilmesine belirli bir biçimde katkıda bulunacaktır., Burkina Faso’s landlocked state, coupled with its geographical position in West Africa, makes it a hub of regional corridors. Its landlockedness imposes a markup on the costs of imports and exports, but also Burkina Faso’s distances from gateway ports are longer than average (about 1,000 kilometers to a gateway ports). As a result, the costs of transport are very sensitive to any inefficiency in customs administration, cross-border waiting times and in the transit chain. The geographic location of the country however, positions him as a natural transit hub for West Africa. Burkina is a transit point for the landlocked countries of Niger and Mali and has the potential to take advantage of its geographical position; it also supports trade development with its neighboring countries (Togo, Niger, Mali, Benin, Ghana, and Ivory Coast). When it comes to trade, Burkina Faso has four alternative corridors for shipment. Its capital city Ouagadougou strategically lies at the intersection point of those corridors. As a result of being a transit point for national and regional freight movement, Ouagadougou is facing many city logistics problems like increasing trucks accidents, congestion in the traffic, air pollution and noise etc.… Given these circumstances, the concept of freight village is introduced in the African context with focus on landlocked country. This study aims to simultaneously select a freight village location and its transportation network for the city of Ouagadougou. The research proposes an AHP model to evaluate both the potential freight village locations and their transportation network. The aim of the proposed framework is to alleviate city logistics problems in Ouagadougou and to leverage the potential of Burkina Faso to benefit from its geographic position. The findings of this research maybe an inspirational guide for policy makers, practitioners, and academicians. It will also contribute to enrich the existing literature on landlocked countries and more specifically on Burkina Faso.

Many cities of different size and in different areas of the world have successfully tested the introduction of off-hour deliveries (OHD) on a voluntary basis, reporting positive effects, both on freight distribution efficiency and sustainability. However, those initiatives have not been implemented so far at a large scale. This paper investigates OHD potential in Rome, focusing on one of the most important barriers to its adoption, i.e. stakeholder acceptability. The study investigates stakeholders' preferences for different OHD configurations using both a qualitative approach, based on in-depth interviews, and a quantitative analysis, based on an interactive multi-actor multi-criteria analysis. Results show that stakeholders prefer a solution where OHD are jointly implemented together with one or more urban consolidation centres. This preliminary analysis paves the way for further technical/economic evaluations needed for OHD implementation in Rome. Stakeholders’ involvement is of outmost importance to understand their heterogeneous preferences and increase their awareness of urban freight transport problems, with the overall aim to foster behaviour change.

A city as a system that constitutes one of the most important areas of human activities. The significant role to fulfill their expectations pay the goods transport and deliveries. These issues are the subject of urban logistics. In broad terms, urban logistics may be construed as a number of processes focused on freight flows, which are completed in cities, including deliveries, supply, goods transfer, services, etc. Due to the different urban logistics stakeholders’ expectations, these systems generate many challenges for managers, especially in the context of city users’ needs and their quality of life. Today, there is a lack of broadened approach and methodology to support them from the processes’ efficiency perspective. To fulfill this gap, the purpose of this paper is to apply the Six Sigma method as a support in last mile delivery management. Six Sigma method plays important role in production systems processes management. However, it could be useful in much wider perspective, including transport and logistics processes. The Authors emphasize that the Six Sigma method could be efficient approach in the last mile delivery processes’ analysis in the context of their efficiency. It helps positioning the customer satisfaction level and quantify the delivery processes defects, related to the undelivered goods. Following that it could improve significantly the last mile delivery processes efficiency. The concept is illustrated by a sample evaluation of one of the urban logistics processes: completion of deliveries. To this end, urban logistics processes were defined. In particular, the delivery completion process was mapped, and the process client was defined along with their expectations. The defects that occurred in the process were identified and analyzed. A DPMO (Defect per Million Opportunities) indicator was established for three randomly selected months. In addition, a root cause analysis of errors was performed. The sigma level for the studied process ranged from 2.61 to 2.89. The factor that had the greatest impact on the number of defects defined as failed deliveries was customer’s absence. The obtained results indicate that the delivery process should be examined in more detail.

Two-echelon distribution systems are attractive from an economical standpoint and help to keep large vehicles out of densely populated city centers. Large trucks can be used to deliver goods to intermediate facilities in accessible locations, whereas smaller vehicles allow to reach the final customers. Due to their reduced size, pollution, and noise, multiple companies consider using an electric fleet of terrestrial or aerial vehicles for last-mile deliveries. Route planning in multi-tier logistics leads to notoriously difficult problems. This difficulty is accrued in the presence of an electric fleet since each vehicle operates on a smaller range and may require planned visits to recharging stations. To study these challenges, we introduce the electric two-echelon vehicle routing problem (E2EVRP) as a prototypical problem. We propose a large neighborhood search (LNS) metaheuristic as well as an exact mathematical programming algorithm, which uses decomposition techniques to enumerate promising first-level solutions in conjunction with bounding functions and route enumeration for the second-level routes. These algorithms produce optimal or near-optimal solutions for the problem and allow us to evaluate the impact of several defining features of optimized battery-powered distribution networks. We created representative E2EVRP benchmark instances to simulate realistic metropolitan areas. In particular, we observe that the detour miles due to recharging decrease proportionally to 1/ρx with x ≈ 5/4 as a function of the charging stations density ρ; e.g., in a scenario where the density of charging stations is doubled, recharging detours are reduced by 58%. Finally, we evaluate the trade-off between battery capacity and detour miles. This estimate is critical for strategic fleet-acquisition decisions, in a context where large batteries are generally more costly and less environment-friendly.

We propose a new ILP formulation for the multi-commodity location-routing problem.The new formulation models the location decisions by a flow intercepting approach.The usage of the proposed formulation for the design of a single-tier freight distribution system is discussed.A branch-and-cut algorithm is proposed and experienced on test networks with different topologies. Research on the location-routing problem (LRP) is very active, producing a good number of effective exact and approximated solution approaches. It is noteworthy that most of the contributions present in the literature address the single-commodity LRP, whereas the multi-commodity case has been scarcely investigated. Yet, this issue assumes an important role in many LRP applications, particularly in the context of designing single-tier freight distribution City Logistics systems. To fill this gap, we define a new multi-commodity LRP, proposing an original integer linear programming model for it. The proposed formulation takes into account the multi-commodity feature of the problem, modeling the strategic location and the tactical routing decisions using the flow intercepting approach. We therefore name this problem the flow intercepting facility location-routing problem. It is solved by a branch-and-cut algorithm which exploits cuts derived and adapted from literature. The proposed method is successfully experienced and validated on test instances reproducing different network topologies and problem settings.

In city logistics, courier express and parcel services (CEP) deal with last mile deliveries in an urban environment. CEP route vehicles to deliver parcels to costumers distributed in the cities area. Customers expect fast and reliable services to reasonable prices. As a result, CEP have to plan and execute their routing efficiently. In a city logistic environment, CEP faces several challenges. Especially, travel times between customers are not deterministic but uncertain and differ during the day regarding traffic volumes and stochastic events like congestion. Further, city traffic flows are controlled by traffic control management (TM). TM decisions additionally impact travel times for CEP. This paper shows the impact of TM decisions to travel times and emphasizes the benefit of cooperational planning between CEP and TM.

Urban freight living labs need to operate in full recognition of the challenges that will shape the mobility of goods in urban areas in the future. These challenges are several: macroeconomic, micro-economic, demographic, technological, societal, and legal. To help CITYLAB cities implement their urban freight initiatives, a better understanding of These challenges is necessary. This is what this Observatory of strategic developments impacting urban logistics intends to do, by providing data and analysis on some of the most important, or less well known, trends that will shape the urban mobility of goods in the future. This second version (2017) of the Observatory provides data and analyses on 1) Logistics Sprawl; 2) E-commerce; and 3) Service trips. Our findings about the main impacts of these three trends for cities involved in urban freight living labs are the following: - The number of logistics facilities (in their diversity: warehouses, fulfilment centres, distribution centres, cross-dock terminals) is increasing in cities, especially cities of some logistics importance as large consumer markets and/or logistics hubs processing the flow of goods generated by the global economy. These facilities are generally located in suburban areas, but a new niche market of urban warehouses is emerging. - Both e-commerce and logistics sprawl generate a rise in freight vehicles in urban areas, dominated by small vehicles, while medium to large lorries are relatively less important. These vehicles performing delivery operations are visible in neighbourhoods and at times of day when they were not identified before: residential neighbourhoods, residential building blocks, side streets, in the early evening and on week-ends. Emerging new types of vehicles (clean delivery vehicles, two and three wheelers) are now visible in urban centres. - Innovations in the urban supply chains include diverse forms of pick-up points and click-and-collect solutions, while the recent but extremely rapid rise in Technologies and algorithms supporting instant deliveries (on-demand deliveries within less than two hours) brings with it a flourish of new companies connecting customers, suppliers and independent couriers, often using bicycles. - The overall impact of these new trends on energy and carbon emission related to urban freight is difficult to assess. Urban freight in general, for the Paris region, brings the following environmental impact: the share of traffic-related CO2, NOx and PM10 due to urban freight is 2.5 times larger than the share of vans and trucks in the regional traffic. The contribution of urban freight to air pollution is larger in the city of Paris. Social costs of air pollution caused by road traffic in general amount to 0.9% of the regional GDP in 2012. Some of the new trends bring more CO2 emissions, such as the relocation of logistics facilities far away in the suburbs, as deconsolidated shipments are delivered to urban consumers and businesses in smaller and more numerous vans. Some trends bring less CO2 emissions, with a rise in cleaner vehicles and innovative solutions such as drop-off/pickup points or bikesupported instant deliveries. Substitution patterns between personal mobility and professional freight mobility can be a good, or a bad, thing for CO2 emissions, depending on the initial circumstances and the way personal shopping was done before online orders. - What is certain is that these changes bring diversity in the urban traffic flow. Instant couriers are using all sorts of transport modes, including foot, bicycles, electrically assisted cargocycles, motorbikes, and various types of vans and lorries. This can negatively impact traffic management, road safety and conflicts in road uses, congestion, air pollution. Also, the trends we have looked at bring new types of urban jobs, with many unresolved legal issues and poor working conditions in many instances. New types of logistics buildings bring architectural diversity and innovation in cities, but also complaints about noise, aesthetics, as well as congestion and pollution at entrance and exit points. - These environmental and social impacts have been so far poorly documented and researched. Consumers are the main drivers of the changes we have observed, but they are also the residents or visitors of urban areas, and for that they carry an important share of the burdens, as well as the benefits, of the new landscape of urban logistics. - Service trips are trips in commercial traffic induced by service oriented activities. According to the German study KiD 2010 service traffic accounts for 11.8% of traffic in terms of trips and for 19.9% in terms of kilometres travelled. There are differences in terms of vehicle types and economic sectors but few variations in Terms of spatial types. - An observatory on service traffic must take into account light duty vehicles and passenger cars in general. Establishment based analysis as well as vehicle based analysis can give detailed insight in traffic generation and traffic behaviour in Service traffic.

In recent years the European Commission has increasingly focused its attention on the development of sustainable city logistics by promulgating legislation and formal directives. Despite the efforts made, reducing freight-related congestion and polluting emissions without penalising social and economic activities within cities is still a challenging issue. City logistics measures frequently fail mainly due to a lack of support and commitment from stakeholders. A participatory approach in freight transport planning represents a reasonable and valuable option. This paper describes the innovative governance model developed in the city of Turin in Italy that was based on a proactive and effective stakeholders' cooperation for achieving a resilient urban development. The added value of the paper also relates to the real-life assessment of the impacts the non-mandatory policy-mix implemented, based on a collaborative governance model, have on the environment and service delivery thus providing a realistic measure of the viability and effectiveness of the solution proposed. Its voluntary adoption, in fact, produces an increase in commercial vehicles’ speed and a substantial reduction in CO 2 emissions while also allowing logistic service providers to perform more deliveries.

Agent-based models (ABMs) are widely used to replicate transport environments accounting for interaction among stakeholders. Validation of ABMs implies assessing the extent to which the model, from assumptions to results, is capable of approximating reality. To this end, different methods have been proposed, but yet no widely accepted procedure has emerged. This paper addresses this problem and suggests using a procedure based on role-playing games (RPGs). A first application is described with the intent of providing a preliminary contribution to validate an ABM trying to mimic stakeholders’ interaction in a multi-level decisionmaking process in the context of urban freight transport policy-making. The aim is twofold: (1) understand if the structure of the model and the opinion dynamics envisioned are consistent with a real negotiation process, (2) verify if the results derived from the ABM effort are in line with those derived from a real-life experiment. Results of the first preliminary experiment show that the model seems capable of reproducing real-world processes and confirm that well-thought-out RPGs can contribute to validating ABMs. Keywords: city logistics, stakeholder engagement, participatory simulation, model validation, discrete choice models

This paper investigates the potential for off-hour deliveries in the city of Rome. It focuses on retailers that play a fundamental role in the decision making process often determining delivery times. It explores their preferences for three off-hour delivery prototypes and inquires retailers' willingness to adopt them, both with and without the provision of dedicated incentives. Finally, it analyses retailers’ reactions to a hypothetical scenario where a mandatory off-hour delivery policy is imposed. The overall results show a good inclination towards off-hour deliveries. This induces optimism with respect to their potential introduction as well as skepticism about the lack of attention local decision makers have, so far, paid to this policy option.

Freight transport and urban logistics are of prime importance. The jobs associated with these activities are very numerous (290,000 in Ile-de-France to which we must add the interim, particularly important) and strategic because they concern people with low and medium school qualifications. The multiplication of logistics centers in the urban peripheries (+ 37% between 2000 and 2012 in Île de France), the explosion of direct deliveries to individuals with the development of e-commerce, up to the demand for 'instant delivery' (the merchandise arrives less than two hours after the order) transform the urban landscape and lifestyles. The economy of digital platforms, supported by start-ups or very large groups, finds one of its privileged fields of development. Despite this high visibility, logistics remains the poor relation of debates and public policies in the metropolises. Cities have little culture of freight transport and use only a modest amount of resources at their disposal. Despite advances in the knowledge of the stakes, despite a high number of strategic programs, our country lacks a solid and realistic corpus of urban transport policies. The subject is treated piecemeal, with regulatory variations according to the communes within the same agglomeration such that they render their respect random and sometimes impossible., Les transports de marchandises et la logistique urbaine constituent un enjeu de première grandeur. Les emplois liés à ces activités sont très nombreux (290000 en Ile-de-France auquel il faut rajouter l'interim, particulièrement important) et stratégiques car ils concernent des personnes à qualification scolaire faible et moyenne. La multiplication des centres logistiques dans les périphéries urbaines (+ 37 % entre 2000 et 2012 en Île de France), l'explosion des livraisons directes aux particuliers avec le développement du e-commerce, allant jusqu'à la demande de 'livraison instantanée' (la marchandise arrive moins de deux heures après la commande) transforment le paysage urbain et les modes de vie. L'économie de plates-formes numériques, portées par des start-ups ou de très grands groupes, y trouve un de ses terrains privilégiés de développement. Malgré cette forte visibilité, la logistique reste le parent pauvre des débats et des politiques publiques dans les métropoles. Les villes n'ont guère de culture du transport de marchandises et n'utilisent que faiblement l'arsenal des ressources dont elles disposent. Malgré des avancées dans la connaissance des enjeux, malgré un nombre éleÎ de programmes stratégiques, notre pays ne dispose pas d'un corpus solide et réaliste de politiques urbaines relatives aux transports de marchandises. Le sujet est traité au coup par coup, avec des variations réglementaires selon les communes au sein d'une même agglomération telles qu'elles rendent leur respect aléatoire et parfois impossible.

Freight transport in cities has long been one of the forgotten aspects of urban policies, but in the space of two decades they have become one of their most pressing questions. This rather obscure past has for its chief explanation the very limited quantitative knowledge which one could have of this activity. At best, it was suspected that this could contribute greatly to congestion through the lived experience of his car immobilized behind a vehicle in delivery. However, it was far from clear that these deliveries could, in certain districts and at certain hours, account for more than half of the determinants of congestion, as the investigations to which we are going to refer. More generally, it had to be recognized that in urban areas statistics and, a fortiori, modeling of the transport of goods had a considerable delay in relation to passenger transport. Indeed, in terms of the movement of people, there already existed a range of operational models based on a long-established formalization standard. These models naturally included statistics from travel surveys, which themselves were based on a standardized methodology since the 1970s., Les transports de marchandises en ville ont été longtemps l'un des aspects oubliés des politiques urbaines mais sont devenus, en l'espace de deux décennies l'une de leurs questions vives. Ce passé un peu obscur a pour principale explication la très faible connaissance quantitative que l'on pouvait avoir de cette activité. Au mieux soupçonnait-on que cela pouvait contribuer fortement à la congestion à travers l'expérience Îcue de sa voiture immobilisée derrière un Îhicule en livraison. On était cependant loin de savoir que ces livraisons pouvaient, dans certains quartiers et à certaines heures, peser pour plus de la moitié dans les déterminants de la congestion comme devaient le réÎler les enquêtes que nous allons évoquer. Plus généralement, il fallait bien admettre que dans l'espace urbain les statistiques et, a fortiori, la modélisation des transports de marchandises avaient un considérable retard par rapport aux transports de voyageurs. En effet, en matière de déplacements de personnes, il existait déjà une palette de modèles opérationnels reposant sur un standard de formalisation établi de longue date. A ces modèles correspondaient bien entendu des statistiques issues d'enquêtes sur les déplacements qui, elles-mêmes, reposaient sur une méthodologie standardisée depuis les années 1970.

The distribution of goods in urban areas, together with private traffic flows, are among the main sources of energy consumption, air pollution and noise. As a consequence, in the 2000s, several EU cities started to implement logistical solutions for the sustainable city. In this context, this study addresses the implementation of a new eco-logistic system, which serves multiple adjacent cities by using electric vehicles to deliver goods of any type within their urban areas. This paper describes the results of a project developed in the province of Vicenza (northern Italy) and covering the main cities (Bassano del Grappa, Thiene, Schio and Valdagno) in the foothills (the so-called Pedemontana Veneta zone). The eco-logistic system aims to cover the last 50 miles of distribution (typical area of an Italian province) with a centralised platform that performs green deliveries with electric vehicles from/to the downtown areas. A preliminary and extensive “on field” analysis by means of door-to-door questionnaires was conducted to identify the performance required by the eco-logistic system. Therefore, the design of such a distribution system is performed to assess and define the conditions that make this solution profitable from both the economic and the environmental perspective.

The competition in the Greek manufacturing sector has become very intense and the need for businesses to survive, under these very difficult conditions, forces them to find new ways to increase their profits, but also to attract new customers and to retain old. A necessary condition for long-term business survival is to maintain a high product quality level. The implementation of Total Quality Management (TQM) approach is a key factor to achieve this goal.The main objective of this research is to identify the current situation as far as the implementation of TQM by Greek manufacturing firms, and finally to compare the results between the current research and the previous research of 2009 (Vranaki et al., 2010). The research model that has been developed incorporates nine factors which are found in literature to influence Total Quality Management. A structured questionnaire has been developed and distributed to executives of 61 companies. Descriptive statistics as well as Structure Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques were used to analyze the data.

Urban areas are vital centers of economic activity and innovation generating large economies of density and proximity. Yet, procuring and distributing goods in an urban context is fraught with difficulties because of infrastructure congestion, external costs, conflicting objectives among stakeholders, and asymmetric information. In order to improve the performance of the urban goods transport system many policies have been proposed, including goods vehicle time windows, vehicle-type restrictions, loading\unloading policies, fiscal policies, and the promotion urban transhipment and consolidation centres. Unfortunately, not much is known concerning how these policies affect the existing distribution practices. It is quite likely that the impact is differentiated by type of product and distribution channel. The aim of this paper is to explore this issue. Drawing on the existing literature and on the empirical evidence from some Italian cities, the paper identifies and discusses the relationship between each of the above-mentioned policies and the distribution channels of some goods (fresh food sold in retail stores, food distributed by Hotels, Restaurants and Catering (Ho.Re.Ca.), pharmaceutical products and clothing&footwear) which are commonly distributed in Italian urban centers. It is found that the distribution of pharmaceutical products is unaffected by these policies, whereas the distribution of fresh food is negatively affected especially by access time regulation and loading\unloading policies. The Ho.Re.Ca. and the clothing&footwear channels are likely to be impacted the most by fiscal policies and by the promotion of urban transhipment and consolidation centres.

The paper analyses the potential for introducing a Park&Buy service in the city of Pesaro (Italy) along the lines of the pilot project introduced in Siena, Italy, in 2004. It attempts to empirically evaluate the preferences of the parties involved and derives some suggestions on the potential compromise solution via a specifically designed stated preference experiment, drawing from the literature on interactive agency discrete choice modelling. Although various theoretical and methodological issues are still open for discussion, the methodology proves useful in giving insights not only on the parties’ preference structure - as normally achieved by discrete choice models - but also on shopkeepers perception of customers’ preferences, on the room for bargaining, on each party’s influence on choice attributes and on the determinants of the probability of achieving a comprise solution.

This paper reports the results of a stated-preference study aimed at investigating how transport decisions are made by receivers or by transport operators about the potential use of an urban freight consolidation centre in the city of Fano, Italy. Because there are no revealed preference data, a stated-choice methodology is used. The stated-choice experiments present two alternatives—one using a private vehicle subject to various traffic regulations and one using the urban freight consolidation centre with varying cost and efficiency levels. Conventional discrete choice data modelling shows that the potential demand is influenced mainly by the distance of the parking bay from the shop, by access permit cost, by the service cost of the urban freight consolidation centre, and by the delay in delivery time. Simulations are then performed to assess how the potential demand is affected by various incentives and regulations affecting urban goods distribution.

This papers illustrates a feasibility study aimed at: analysing the actual city logistics in the Limited Traffic Area of Florence; evaluating to what extent the Transit Point solution could optimize parcel delivery and its repercussions on traffic flow in the historic centre of Florence; identifying a suitable location for Transit Point infrastructures, and examining economic and normative aspects of the proposal. Particular attention has been given to assessing the economic sustainability of the Transit Point, under the hypothesis that areas, infrastructures and vehicles will be publicly financed, and that the Transit Point will have to find the resources to remunerate the new company through the reduction of vehicles and workers. A model for corporate governance for the Transit Point has also been proposed, in addition to a model of planning and control for proper accountability. The study demonstrates that the realization of the Transit Point would allow for: a reduction in traffic congestion in the historic centre; attainment of a positive EBIT through public financing of the structures; a continuance of the service without changing transport or remuneration costs; an improvement of the working conditions.

In most European congested urban areas the rail tracks of the 19th and 20th century serving locations of industry and goods stations were removed, transformed for public passenger transport, closed down or used for other purposes. The main reasons might be the de-industrialisation of the inner cities and the centralisation of the supply-sector (wholesale markets, shopping centres). Simultaneous the urban areas got an excellent road network on the surface and an efficient public transport system in the underground or on dedicated tracks. Nevertheless the amount of goods delivered to urban areas increased due to material prosperity. In this context “METRO.FREIGHT.2020” analysed the possibilities of a reinforced utilisation of railway infrastructure for freight transport on the first and the last miles within the urban regions in Austria as exemplified in case studies for the metropolitan Region of Vienna, the agglomerations of Graz and Linz and for the urbanised Rhine-Valley in Vorarlberg. In this context the focus point of consideration was the interface of transport and urban development, to a lesser extent the theoretical approach behind. As a fundamental milestone a cadastre of existing or recoverable sidings or other rail shipping points has been surveyed. They were evaluated in respect of serviceability concerning tracking freight trains in the rail network and extensibility in the service area which was complemented with propositions for further developing. The recommendations focus measures intending technically and economically operable access points to rail net on one hand and potentially appropriate access points for the future. But, to reach this goal more strengthened integration of commercial location policy and of shippers’ transport demands with a coordinated land use planning and an infrastructure development policy is required. Finally the methodical approach elaborated comprises following components to push more rail freight shipping: • Traffic zoning is a hierarchical spatial approach subdividing an urban region in sectors, zones and ‘agglomerates’ as spheres of activity for political and private actors involved in freight traffic generation and infrastructure affaires. • Surveying a multimodal topology of infrastructure network which integrates all transport modes in its layout of freight infrastructure propped up on a public platform of a multimodal network graph in future. • Characterizing an ‘agglomerate’ typology of shipping sites with affinity to rail which describes the typical initial position and development trends of the freight transport inducing traffic zones. • Shaping spatial structures which consist of super structures of shipping industrial sites as traffic generators, the infrastructure with its capacity for freight movements and the ‘metastructure’ as external affected settlements and land uses are prime targets and intervention objects, the coordinated measures have to be allocated to. The railway operators are called on to offer more flexible train and operation forms tailored to the logistics of shippers if the rail infrastructure within the serving area from the consolidation node to the sidings enables it. In the end three scenarios have been identified, namely a scenario of ultimate displacement of rail freight service in towns, a retarding scenario which brakes the retreat of rail connected with a change of paradigm in transport and traffic planning leading into an offensive scenario of ‘clean freight mobility’ to revitalize and extend rail freight operations into areas of high consumption.

9th International Conference on City Logistics, Tenerife, ESPAGNE, 17-/06/2015 - 19/06/2015; In this article, we present efforts towards building a city-wide freight delivery rounds optimization system aimed at leveraging city traffic information to optimize professional vehicle rounds. This project, called SmartDeliveries, has been developed as part of the OptimodLyon project. We present the system's architecture and general objective. Then we present early evaluations which have led us to identify three main technical challenges to address, but also to quantify the potential productivity gains for its users: 18% in distance savings and 11% in time. This could lead, if the system were to be generalized at the scale of the city, to a reduction in as much as 5% in traffic, and to corresponding savings in emissions, which are the primary motivation of the project leaders. Finally we discuss the remaining challenges to address, from a technical as well as an organizational standpoint, to introduce real life implementation of the system.

Road Freight transport is causing a number of social, environmental and economic negative impacts in many cities around the world. Therefore sustainable city logistics must be the solution to the problems of urban centers, with the main objective of researchers reduce these impacts, without penalizing the needs of cities. Cause of this several sustainable initiatives and policies have been implemented to help reduce them. But are the sustainable policies really sustainable? So this paper aims to evaluate one of these policies in a quantitative way to answer the question. Therefore be presented and implement a model based on VRP logic to evaluate the differences between the distances traveled by vehicles of a logistics company in a city with a policy regulating access and the distance traveled without such regulation. And based on the results obtained attempt draw conclusions to answer the question.Keywords: City logistic, Sustainable policies, Vehicle routing, Access time windows, Genetic Algorithms, City centersLogística Urbana: ¿Son realmente sostenibles las políticas sostenibles?Resumen: La Logística Urbana sostenible debe ser solución ante los numerosos problemas sociales, medioambientales y económicos causados por el transporte de mercancías por carretera en las ciudades. De hecho son varias las iniciativas y políticas sostenibles que se han llevado a cabo para intentar reducir estos problemas. Pero ¿son realmente sostenibles estas políticas sostenibles? Este trabajo tiene como objetivo evaluar una de estas políticas de forma cuantitativa para poder responder a dicha pregunta. Así se evaluaron las diferencias entre las distancias recorridas por los vehículos de una empresa de logística en una ciudad con y sin una política de acceso regulado.Palabras clave: Logística Urbana, políticas sostenibles, enrutamiento de vehículos, ventana de acceso temporal, algoritmos genéticos, centros urbanos.