Door-to-door the logistics way
One way of clearing the pollution, noise and congestion out of Europe's cities is to enrol the help of urban logistics planning. There are many individual schemes that can lessen the impact of traffic - park and ride, traffic light coordination and the promotion of green vehicles. Less attention has been paid to one of the major sources of pollution, delivery vehicles. Although there has been considerable progress made in telematics, the fusion of technologies like onboard electronic systems in cars and global positioning systems, there has been no concerted attack against the glut of freight in our urban areas. The 'Ecommerce enabled demand responsive urban logistic' (EDRUL) project aimed to address shortfalls in city distribution services. The project researchers tackled strategic infrastructures like pick up and distribution points down to deliveries to special user categories such as the disabled. EDRUL established an urban logistics coordination agency for the management of a multi-fleet, multi-operator freight distribution network. Part of this was a business to consumer (B2C) and a business to business (B2B) service infrastructure. To test and validate the systems, three sites in Italy, the Netherlands and Portugal were chosen that were representative of the diverse urban scenarios in Europe. EDRUL also developed a method to evaluate the impact of the new technology and services. The EDRUL project assessed the case for demand responsive, e-logistics freight delivery. Perhaps most important, they have determined the conditions under which these may be successfully implemented in European urban areas. Broad dissemination, promotion with local authorities and market stimulation for innovative e-logistics schemes will make sure that EDRUL achievements are fully maximised.
