Retailers and carriers’ viewpoint on Sorocaba’s city logistics: a spatial analysis

Abstract

The spatial differentiation of the main constraints and challenges on urban freight transportation can support more assertive public policies and measures, subsidizing city logistics solutions. This paper presents the use of spatial analysis to characterize retailers and carriers’ perceptions on the most important constraints and challenges faced during the urban freight delivery in the central area of Sorocaba/SP. To identify possible clustered patterns concerning problems and solutions from the stakeholders’ viewpoint, the data were analyzed through two spatial techniques: Average Nearest Neighbors and Getis Gi Ord* Hot Spots analysis. These two methodological approaches provide a spatial concentration analysis. As a result, we determined the spatial patterns of stakeholders’ perception for the two groups of variables assessed: (i) the Northwestern portion of Sorocaba’s central area is not prepared to receive the demands of vehicles, and the stakeholders present restrictions related to off-peak deliveries; (ii) the Northeastern region has the greatest negative perception regarding the assessed attributes, and shows little evidence that the loading and unloading space is not appropriate.

Impact of Goods Distribution in the Last Mile: An Investigation in the City of São Paulo

“…Small retailers usually receive goods without advance scheduling ( 16 ), which may show a lack of delivery planning. One of the reasons for retailers not to schedule goods being received is the low level of planning, where orders are generated as inventories are consumed ( 10 ). Moreover, intrinsic factors of delivery-specific characteristics such as weight, volume, the number of delivery workers, and the number of businesses served may affect the delivery time ( 39 ).…”

“…Urban distribution regulations are established by local authorities ( 14 ) that determine the availability of parking areas and control traffic, vehicle access, and land use in strategic regions in large cities ( 15 , 16 ). However, local authorities may have few initiatives to solve the problems for all the actors involved in the distribution problems in an egalitarian way ( 10 ). Urban logistical operations often play a secondary role in city planning priorities ( 15 ) and the authorities do not consider this problem as a whole ( 17 ).…”

“…H6: ''Lack of accessibility and delivery planning'' is positively related to ''safety and risk''(11,12,23,29,38) H7: ''Receiver characteristics'' is positively related to ''lack of accessibility and delivery planning''(10,11,15,16,19,22,39) H8: ''Receiver characteristics'' is positively related to the ''safety and risk''(10,11,15,16,19,22,39) H9: ''Truck circulation restriction'' is positively related to ''driver's misbehavior''(12,23,40) …”

“…This way of operating has generated an overload on logistic service providers and carriers, who have had to adapt their fleets and deal with the problems inherent in the logistics aimed at the final consumers. Furthermore, urban freight distribution issues, such as truck circulation restrictions ( 8 , 9 ), receiver characteristics (e.g., based on local constraints, lack of equipment to move goods, lack of receiver support on deliveries) ( 10 , 11 ), lack of accessibility and delivery planning (e.g., difficulty in reaching the delivery location, lack of delivery planning, and traffic congestion) ( 11 ), deficient urban road infrastructure (e.g., lack of loading/unloading areas, inappropriate sidewalks and signage) ( 10 , 12 ), driver behavior ( 13 ), and safety and risk problems ( 8 , 9 ), have increased over the two decades since the early 2000s and now challenge truck operators in the freight distribution system.…”

“…Receivers of goods are also part of this context. They can help to establish alternative policies that can mitigate distribution problems, such as flexibility to receive the goods in off-hours ( 20 ) and provide better support during deliveries ( 10 ).…”