Change trends in urban freight delivery: A qualitative inquiry

Abstract

In this paper we present the findings of a qualitative investigation of change trends in urban freight deliveries. The empirical material was gathered with urban freight (courier) company managers and drivers in Aotearoa New Zealand. It presents personal accounts of the everyday lived experiences of those intimately involved in the delivery of goods within the urban environment. Twenty five interviews were conducted across four urban centres between June and September 2015. We use the four elements of the Energy Cultures Framework to explore what urban freight managers and drivers 'have', 'do' and 'think', and the pressures of an external context. Four interrelated themes are presented, 1. Online shopping and home deliveries, 2. Tracking and transparency, 3. New technologies, and 4. Meeting (changing) expectations, with evidence provided by way of verbatim quotations. The 'mobility cultures' concept is used to explore the relationships between the four themes, and to identify the key change trends that may affect the ability of the freight industry to contribute to a low-carbon transport transition. We conclude by signalling some policy implications and future research directions.

The Implementation of Green Logistics in Road Transportation

“…High population density in cities leads to a combination of overcrowded transport infrastructure, lack of parking spaces and the associated problems of compliance with delivery obligations and vehicle pollution. In addition, last-mile recipients find it more difficult to successfully deliver a parcel on the first try, recipients are less sedentary, and the courier or administrative staff have to coordinate by phone other possible meeting points, times or dates, which takes time and requires additional resources (Hopkins & McCarthy, 2016). Macharis & Kin (2017) point out that increasing congestion in cities has a negative impact on the performance of transport companies.…”

Energy Poverty and Vulnerability

“…The aim of this chapter is to demonstrate the value of the energy cultures framework (Lawson et al 2016;Hopkins and McCarthy 2016;Hoica 2012;Bell et al 2013;Sweeney et al 2013;Stephenson et al 2010) in offering a nuanced and holistic framework through which to understand the drivers of energy poverty. The framework brings together multiple elements to conceptualise how the technical, behavioural and social components interact to structure energy consumption.…”

Freight Operations Modelling for Urban Delivery and Pickup with Flexible Routing: Cluster Transport Modelling Incorporating Discrete-Event Simulation and GIS

“…In practice, freight companies have needs for improving the efficiency of operations [5]. General freight operations are complex because of the high degree of daily variability in consignments [6,7], and the need to match this to vehicle fleet composition [8], vehicle allocation and routing [9], shipment consolidation and dispatching [7], diverse types of infrastructure and network design [10]. Road transport is the primary mode in New Zealand, and industries are highly reliant on road transport in domestic distribution [11,12].…”