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21st Century Operations Using 21st Century Technologies
Table of Contents

United States-European Commission Urban Freight Twinning Initiative: Compendium of Project Summaries
Overview of Second Annual Urban Freight Roundtable at 2017 Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting

Pilot Research Europe

Freight Traffic Control 2050 (FTC2050)

Freight transport currently makes up about 16 percent of all road vehicle activity in our cities; by 2030, the European Union would like to see largely carbon-free logistics systems operating in its urban centers. With van traffic predicted to increase by 20 percent in London by 2030, and the slow uptake of alternatively fueled and electric goods vehicles, more radical strategies are needed to reduce the numbers and impacts of freight vehicles in cities.

Working with some major parcel carriers in London, this project is examining the potential for closer operational collaboration among carriers to reduce urban traffic and energy demand while maintaining customer service levels.

photo of three goods delivery and service vehicles on a London street with the London Eye cantilevered observation wheel in the background

Goods delivery and service vehicles on a London street.
Source: FTC2050.

Project Type

Research

Period of Performance

April 2016 - March 2019

Project Site(s)

London, UK

Website

www.ftc2050.com

Contact

Professor Tom Cherrett
Principal Investigator
University of Southampton
023 80594657
T.J.Cherrett@soton.ac.uk

Challenges Addressed

  • Energy consumption of last-mile freight distribution in urban centers
  • Load consolidation/trip reduction

Expected Outcomes

The key research objectives are to:

  • Investigate the collective transport and energy impacts of current parcel carrier activities.
  • Create a database to gather and interrogate collection and delivery schedules supplied by different carriers.
  • Use the data with a series of optimization algorithms to investigate the potential transport and energy benefits if carriers were to share deliveries and collections more equitably among them and develop tools to help visualize those benefits.
  • Evaluate what business models would be needed to enable carriers to collaborate in this way.
  • Investigate the role that a third-party "Freight Traffic Controller" could play in stimulating collaboration among carriers to reduce energy demand and vehicle impacts across a city.
  • Identify the key legal and privacy issues associated with the receipt, processing, and visualization of such collaborative schedules.

Stakeholder Involvement

This research involves a multidisciplinary collaboration, led by the University of Southampton's Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, and involving the Southampton Business School, Lancaster University's School of Computing and Communications and Data Science Institute, the University of Westminster's Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, and University College London's Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis. Two major carriers (TNT and Gnewt Cargo) have agreed to participate in the research along with Transport for London (TfL). TfL has a primary interest in how carrier operations affect street performance in urban areas and how urban space could be better used to accommodate last-mile delivery.

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