How is own account transport well adapted to urban environments?
CRUZ, Cecilia
transport23. This study on Rungis Market underscores the lack of multi-compartment
transport services. During our interviews, we encountered a case where a wholesale
restaurant supplier using own-account transport was developing a multi-compartment vehicle
to better solve this problem. This case shows that when transport supply does not respond to
shippers' needs, they do not even consider outsourcing to be an option.
One French group called Star Service specifically deals with last-mile logistics for controlled-
temperature perishable goods, and is diversifying its business through subsidiaries such as
Toutadom, which delivers fully prepared meals. Nevertheless, this kind of large urban carrier
is quite rare, with most outsourced flows handled by small organizations. Differences do exist
between cities of different sizes and in different geographic locations. For example, cities that
are subject to strong seasonal variations (such as those in the South of France) have high
rates of outsourcing. The size of cities seems to be an influential variable (Cruz et al., 2009;
Raia, 2005).
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The transport supply is essentially composed of single-employee businesses, and does not
seem to be conducive to the externalisation of what are currently own-account shipments,
considering the importance of reliability and the shipment timings required by own-account
transport users. The difficult conditions in urban areas seem to make them less attractive for
professional carriers, and the city may therefore be a privileged zone for own-account
transport.
From a sustainable development perspective, it is appropriate to explore the possibility of
mutualising own-account shipments even if it is unauthorized yet in own account transport. In
France, as in other European countries, several urban logistic experingents have been
carried out in an attempt to reduce flows in an urban area. The principle is to mutualise flows
through a logistic platform. This allows savings on transport costs, but these savings are not
sufficient to compensate for those imposed by additional transloading (Patier, 2002). A shift
to this kind of platform would probably reduce quality of service and reactivity for own-
account shippers, if we take the additional transport steps into account.
6. CONCLUSION
Own-account transport is used in urban environments because this is where its principal
users (retailers) are often located. However, we find that density plays a role, and observe
differing levels of use across urban areas. The case study presented here illustrates the role
played by shipment density on the use of own-account transport. Own-account service is
certainly advantageous at this scale due to inadequate supply of urban freight services.
Spatial proximity is not the only relevant criterion for defining zones where own-account
transport is advantageous, as time accessibility has a considerable effect in urban areas that
experience significant congestion.
23 National Transport Council, 2004, Programme national marchandises en ville et guide «Une voirie pour tous»,
Report on work by the "Road sharing" group.
12th WCTR, July 11-15, 2010 - Lisbon, Portugal
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