Description (EN): Urban areas attract extensive flows of goods. Recent studies in cities show that substantial efficiency gains are possible if stakeholders cooperate and bundle freight on the last mile within urban areas using smart urban freight logistics hubs. Several challenges must be faced. Realizing a high level of efficiency in distribution within urban areas, being the core challenge of the project by 1) less freight transport 2) less pollution. Optimization of efficiency in urban logistics systems (last mile) have a positive effect on promoting efficient and sustainable multi modal transport. Through the ‘smart urban hub concept’, both sides of the logistics chain can be optimized.The focus of the project is the optimization of the interaction between the hub and the urban logistics system, promoting both efficient and sustainable logistics in urban areas in smaller and medium-sized cities, city regions and networks. (efficiency, sustainability, innovation)The novelty of this project is the combination of a system and supply chain approach in developing these hubs as to make them really ‘smart’. This means that we go beyond past experiments and pilot projects that focus foremost on location.By introducing city labs a transnational platform is created to promote innovation in city logistics. These platforms will bring together different actors to exchange knowledge, work on innovative pilot projects and implement results within policy strategies and the urban logistics system.
Information added on 2020-05-18, regarding the mitigation of the effects of COVID-19 (the coronavirus pandemic that started in 2019) (English language only):
One of the green logistics initaitives supported by SURFLOGH, Groningen-based Dropper, has experienced a surge of business during the Covid-19 crisis. This nimble cargo bike delivery service has turned out to be a success as restaurants have adapted and started to offer takeaway dinners and food.
Dropper has even had requests to deliver in other cities, too. Based on the success of this delivery concept, the company is confident that much of the new business will continue even after the crisis has passed.
Read more Achievements (EN): Since 2017, the SURFLOGH project partners have successfully collaborated to develop, implement and share smart and sustainable solutions with public an private parties concerned with urban logistics. The livability of cities depends largely on improved air quality, noise reduction, proper accessibility and road safety. At the same time, we want to benefit from the advantages of city life - entrepreneurs and citizens alike - and continue to receive goods and parcels. This creates a certain tension on the cities' logistics networks.
The joint effort of the SURFLOGH partners has resulted in a close collaboration between the public authorities (municipalities and (city) regions), logistics service providers and local retailers. In multiple pilots, all focusing on different aspects of urban logistics, the main goal was to achieve a reduced number of transport movements by conventional vehicles (diesel vans). Solutions ranged from the use of urban distribution hubs, electric vehicles, and cargo bikes to somewhat futuristic delivery solutions like autonomously driving vehicles and drones. In total, the project has executed over 10 pilot projects, which all reduced more than 150 conventional vehicle movements. With the development of logistics city hubs and locker services, in connection with the wide-scale use of electric vehicles and cargo bikes, almost 500,000 parcels have been delivered in a sustainable way. More than 100 new sustainable vehicles were deployed and tested, resulting in a significant reduction in emissions. These results have contributed to a significantly positive impact on the livability of the inner city zones related to the pilot projects.
The projects of SURFLOGH are meant to create insights that last longer than the project's lifetime. The pilot projects were the backbone of work, but the insights from these pilots do not stand on their own. For every project the outcomes and effects were closely documented and for some projects an evaluation of the freight flows was executed. These evaluations are used to see whether logistics solutions could be viable in the future and in other cities and which aspects of these solutions are less future-proof and need further research. By creating five practical roadmaps towards sustainable logistics, other cities and regions can learn from insights from the SURFLOGH project. The five roadmaps dive deeper into stakeholder engagement, the role of the city/region in sustainable logistics, the implementation of hubs in the city, the do's and don'ts regarding parcel lockers, and a integrated approach towards concept development for urban logistics.
Finally, multiple business models for logistics solutions were compared scientifically. Different logistics solutions, such as the use of cargo bikes, hubs, parcel lockers, were developed in close collaboration with local entrepreneurs. The role of the beneficiaries differed between these projects: sometimes the municipality was in the lead (policy focus), while in others the partners were more of an observer (pure market). Also, the way the municipalities steer on other aspects of urban logistics differs a lot between the cities as well. The insights of the SURFLOGH pilots have led to multiple scientific reports on business models, that have been presented at conferences all over Europe.
Last but not least, a project video was produced to summarize the project and its main results in just a few minutes. This video was showed and shared at the events in the final year of the project. This short film helps telling the story in an easy and approachable manner, which eases further dissemination of the project results.
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