Because of its role as a “driving force” of the city, trade generates one third of the movement of goods. From the various studies conducted, urban goods transport can be broken down as follows: - 20% of urban vehicle-kilometres are due to transport of goods, 55% of which represents household shopping trips, - 50% of the diesel consumed in the city is for transport of goods (including purchasing), - 35% of urban CO2 emissions come from transport of goods (including purchasing), - 70% of deliveries last less than minutes, - 8 small vehicles are needed to carry the load of one heavy-goods vehicle.

According to the different surveys conducted, relocating the exchange of goods outside the city is not an option, because it would generate a negative result on the whole in terms of distances travelled, consumption of space and energy, and pollution emissions. So we need to find the most appropriate methods and means to control and manage urban logistics, by involving the public and private actors concerned in the choice of innovative solutions. Cities must simultaneously reduce nuisances, revitalize urban centres and organize public spaces in order to meet a growing demand for new logistic services. Various strategies have been elaborated to that end, covering grouping, delivery vehicles, real estate and logistics facilities, commercial structures, etc.Grouping can apply to vehicles, delivery areas, bulk-break bulk platforms, technical means or even data. Grouping deliveries increases the filling ratios and lowers costs through the mass distribution effect. It can be done via a central booking type of platform. A plan to group deliveries is currently under study in the flower sector (C1 pavilion) of Rungis Market.

Under the pressure of real estate prices and low transport costs, logistics has moved out of city centres, causing an increase in kilometres and pollutants, while lowering the productivity of transport operators and the urban economy. Yet urban logistics requires the use of platforms so urban real estate then becomes a strategic variable. It can resort to innovative concepts like urban distribution centres, “logistic hotels” combining various functions within a sustainable development policy, urban logistic spaces designed to optimize delivery of goods in the city (breakbulk points, recomposing flows) by providing specific services (storage, handling, clean vehicle service), lockers or urban logistics boxes, etc.

Lowhub supplies transport services to the clients – florists and greengrocers – of the different London markets (New Covent Garden, Borough Market, Spitalfields, Smithfield, Billingsgate, Western Intl.) that functions on the principle of grouping deliveries. Retailers shop at the wholesale market and entrust the transport to Lowhub. Also established at the wholesale market, Lowhub groups all the purchases entrusted to it and then delivers them, in one round, to the retailers concerned.

A major transport actor in France, Chronopost (250,000 parcels deliveries/day, 230 countries covered) is also a responsible actor in sustainable development terms, as shown by its concept of urban goods transport in Paris, in consultation with the Paris City Council. It includes an underground urban logistics area at Place de la Concorde (a branch of the Chronopost International Paris – Bercy agency) that handles the distribution of parcels to the 7th and 8th arrondissements of the capital,

Crédit photo : FD

Laurent Grandin
(Managing Director of Sicaer - Pomona Group- F&V sector of Rungis)

“Sicaer is a company specialized in the distribution of fruit and vegetables for institutional (15,000 tons/year) and commercial (10,000 tons/year) catering. We have 1,500 clients in all, and we deliver 700 to 800 clients a day.
Given the traffic problems in the Paris region, we had to anticipate and rationalize our distribution by finding the best solution for pre-loading our trucks and leaving very early in the morning. We optimized our rounds with our clients, using computer calculations and support software to cut costs. Actually, I think we have the best optimization capacities in terms of delivery. Concerning sustainable development, our company has done a carbon audit and we are committed to the ISO 14001 standard. This means optimizing our haulage upstream with rail transport and reducing the number of trips downstream, particularly for orders below 50 kg.
Nonetheless, we will increasingly face problems like using gas or electric engines, which will ultimately add to our costs significantly. As for the parking problem, we need to reserve delivery spaces for professionals with a parking permit at specific times (from 2 am onwards). As for grouping deliveries, that applies to subcontracted carriers, so it does not concern us statutorily. Optimizing our capacities is still the best solution to urban goods transport for us, by agreement and in line with official policy, and consistent with the regulations.”

Crédit photo : M Fraicolo

Jean-Sylvain Boudoy
(Managing Director and founder of M. Fraicolo)

“Our concept is that the client sends an order for fresh produce to us on Internet, and we deliver him on bicycle. The idea came to me after producing websites for the car industry and after visiting Rungis. We buy every day at Rungis to avoid any storage and to guarantee our clients the best freshness. The time between buying at Rungis and delivering is well under 24 hours, even for deferred deliveries. To deliver, we used a bicycle towing a small trailer on which we group several cool boxes (35 litres and 14 litres, partitioned according to the products) containing our clients’ purchases. Our bicycles are equipped with an electric battery for steep climbs. The orders are prepared in our warehouse and dispatched by van to the outskirts of Paris or the suburbs (92, 94, 78) and delivered by bicycle from there. For reasons of efficiency and sustainable development concerns, I opted for the bicycle-trailer. There is no pollution, no parking problem, no traffic jams and it takes less time than a car, particularly in Paris at certain times of the day.
We have about a thousand clients today, and our line contains 900 listed products, notably all fresh produce (except fish, which is still hard to transport), all groceries and “organic” hygiene and cleaning products. All orders start at €39 and the average bill comes to €90.  I work with my wife, Karen, who is in charge of the Internet orders and accounts, and I have an employee who assists me with the deliveries. I hope to develop the business sufficiently to have an intra-urban logistics base.”

Crédit photo : Mairie de Paris

Nicolas Roy
(Section Head users - goods and territory – Mobility Agency – Department of Roads & Transport – Paris City Council)

“The volume of goods entering Paris represents about 32 million tons/year and 90% comes by road. Deliveries are essential to the Paris economy, particularly foodstuffs, and they must occur under the best conditions, while limiting nuisance, (noise and air pollution, road congestion, etc.). To achieve this, we need to be as pragmatic as possible. The approaches undertaken with economic actors concern the development of rail transport (goods train, tramway) and river transport. In addition, we want to encourage the use of clean vehicles (vehicles meeting Euro 5 and Euro 6 standards, natural gas and electric-powered vehicles, bicycle-trailers, etc.) including those that preserve the cold chain during the transport of perishable goods. To reduce the mileage involved, we allow the use of high load capacity lorries (up to 43 m² floor space) operating at night to group deliveries. Regulations limit the size of delivery vehicles to 29 m2 floor space between 7 am and 10 pm. We are also developing local urban logistics spaces in underground parking lots for the “last kilometre”. The creation of lockers where private individuals can collect a parcel without waiting for the deliveryman is also an interesting solution. Similarly, Internet helps keep shopper travelling down and pollution too. Lastly, we are thinking about ways to alternate the use of delivery bays between shops and private individuals. All these areas of reflection will inform the preparation of our new Charter of best practices for transport and delivery of goods in Paris, for 2010, in which we wish to involve Rungis Market, since it is a major actor in this domain.”