How is own account transport well adapted to urban environments?
CRUZ, Cecilia
2. MANY FIRMS USING OWN-ACCOUNT TRANSPORT ARE
CONCENTRATED IN THE CITY
The urban environment is conducive to the use of own-account shipping. The 2004 ECHO
survey shows that own-account shipments are predominantly urban. 92% of own-account
shipments have urban points of origin, and 80% have urban destinations. 50% of own-
account shipments are carried out within a single urban area8. These figures confirm the
urban character of own-account transport. In our analysis, we will concentrate on flows within
a single urban area in order to highlight the local role of own-account shipping.
2.1. The use of own-account shipping is related to economic sector
hal-00615151, version 1 - 18 Aug 2011
To understand goods mobility in urban areas, one must decompose the urban economy into
sectors, as each type of business generates a different volume of flows with different
shipment frequencies. As Dablanc has observed (2007), within a business sector there is no
real difference from city to city. From a logistic point of view, firms of the same size and
sector will function almost identically in any city in France. The major differences appear from
one sector to another. Knowledge of the interactions between freight activity and economic
structure is essential to understand the mechanisms of urban freight transport (Ogden, 1992;
Woudsma, 2001).
Differentiation by sector is also useful in explaining reliance on own-account shipping, as
observed by Patier (2004) (Fig. 2). It is essentially retail, wholesale, the crafts, and services
who rely on own-account shipping for more than half of their needs, and this figure can be as
high as three fourths for small shops (Chiron-Augereau, 2009). These business sectors have
specific needs in terms of reliability, and timing is essential. Because they are more service-
oriented than industrial, they need to offer high-quality service or ensure proper reception of
supplies (in the case of own-account consignee).
8 For methodological reasons, our calculations did not allow the inclusion of multipolar municipalities (those which
are part of several urban areas). This would probably increase the proportion. Also, the scope of this survey did
not take construction materials businesses into account, which are particularly strong users of own-account
transport. Thus, the proportion of own-account shipments within a single urban area would be increased.
12th WCTR, July 11-15, 2010 - Lisbon, Portugal
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