How is own account transport well adapted to urban environments?
CRUZ, Cecilia
(2000)12, 63% of deliveries and pick-ups in the centre of Milan are own-account. The
proportion of own-account shipments is higher near the centre of cities: in a 2004 study on
the Emilia-Romagna region (Bestufs, 2006) we see that the use of own-account transport
decreases as geographic scope increases. Of all own-account shipments in this region, 51%
are in the district of Bologna, 34% in the province of Bologna, and only 15% of own-account
shipments are at the regional scale. Thus, own-account shipping is used more frequently in
dense parts of the urban area; this fact is strongly related to the business sectors which
manage their own shipping.
3. TIME: AN ESSENTIAL FACTOR FOR URBAN FREIGHT,
AND A KEY ELEMENT IN THE ANALYSIS OF OWN-
ACCOUNT TRANSPORT
3.1. Taking the client's needs into account: more reactivity and better service
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Timing is essential in urban freight transport: the density of commercial activity and
consumption amplifies the role of just-in-time (JIT) logistics, which are all the more valuable
in that urban environments are close to consumers. Maximum delivery leadtime requested by
clients can be a good indicator of JIT practices and requirements for tight control over freight
transport. We observe shorter maximum delivery leadtime requested on own-account
shipments: for wholesale own-account shipments within a single urban area, the mean was
1 day as opposed to 2.5 days for wholesale shipments carried out by third parties; for
industry own-account shipments within a single urban area, the mean was less than 3 days
as opposed to less than 32 days for industry shipments carried out by third parties13. This
demonstrates that own-account shipments participate more in low time limit production
systems, where clients expect rapid delivery or pick up their own orders, as in the case of the
Rungis, a wholesale market for fruits, vegetables and agricultural produce in Paris Urban
area.
For 50% of shipments of own-account transport, the maximum delivery leadtime requested is
24h versus 48h for third-party for all of activities. Reductions in shop inventory have
repercussions on intermediate links (wholesalers), who serve as a buffer between industries
reducing inventory and shops that wish to do likewise. Thus we observe that wholesalers
who rely on own-account transport for their shipments within a single urban area retain more
days of inventory: on average, 46 days as opposed to 22 days for those who use third party
shipping. Intermediaries play an increased role in this fragmented production system
(Guilbault, Gouvernal, 2010).
Transport reliability is a major issue for this kind of business. Thompson et al. (2001) remark
that retail shops have a stronger need to be supplied (for example) with fresh products,
which necessitates higher shipment frequencies, thereby increasing the number of deliveries
12 Dablanc, L. (2004). Urban Freight Management in Large European Cities. Proceedings of the European
Transport Conference.
13 Source : Data from ECHO Survey-INRETS, 2004
12th WCTR, July 11-15, 2010 - Lisbon, Portugal