Freight Transport Policies Research Articles

Changes in external costs and infrastructure costs due to modal shift in freight transport in North-western Europe

Modal shift in freight transport entails moving freight from road to rail, inland waterways, and short sea shipping. In current Dutch and European freight transport policy, modal shift is foreseen to play an important role to mitigate external effects of freight transport. Policy efforts on modal shift are legitimate because the size of the external costs of freight transport are considerable. But can modal shift policies also be effective? In other words, can policy efforts on modal shift result in a decrease of external costs and infrastructure costs due to freight transport? Our research approach falls apart into three steps. In the first step we analyse the transported weight by road on four international freight corridors in North-western Europe that could be transported against at least 10% lower private costs by rail or inland waterways. The share of road transport (transported weight) on the corridors in total road transport in the Netherlands is about 10%. The weight of the cargo that could potentially be shifted on the basis of the transport cost criterium is called the modal shift potential (MSP). We estimate the MSP for the base year 2018 and for the future year 2050. Also in this step, we translate the MSP into changes in transport performance per transport mode. In the second step we determine differences in external costs and user dependent infrastructure costs per unit of transport performance (tonkm) between the transport modes road, rail, and inland waterways. The following external effects are included: greenhouse gas emissions (tank-to-wheel), air pollutant emissions (tank-to-wheel), noise, traffic accidents, congestion, and emissions from fuel and electricity production (well-to-tank) for freight vehicles. Including all these effects, we take a more integral approach than existing studies on the effect of modal shift on the external costs of freight transport. In the third step, we combine the results of steps 1 and 2 and calculate the changes in external costs and infrastructure costs that result from the MSP’s. We find MSP’s of between 35 and 55%, depending on the market segment (container, or non-container transport, and year). These percentages may seem substantial, but we emphasize that on the freight transport corridors rail and inland waterways are (very) competitive to road. Estimates for the decrease in external- and user dependent infrastructure costs if the MSP’s are fully realized point to reductions of €67 million to €150 million for the Netherlands, and €87 million to €136 million abroad for 2018 (considering all countries through which the corridors pass). We emphasize that these are maximum annual savings which can only be achieved if all non-transport cost obstacles for modal shift can be removed. For 2050 estimating a maximum and minimum for the change in external- and infrastructure costs is impossible due to uncertainties in the development of the transport costs and the external costs of freight transport. Because for the year 2018 the MSP’s result in a decrease of external costs and infrastructure costs from freight transport on the corridors, we conclude that in the coming years policy efforts on modal shift can be effective. We can however not conclude anything about the efficiency: are the benefits of policy efforts on modal shift larger than the costs? If that is not the case, taking modal shift measures can eventually not be justified from an economic welfare point of view.

Urban freight policy maturity and sustainable logistics: are they related?

Problems associated with urban freight are well known and documented in the academic literature, particularly with regards to the impact on air quality and general intrusion of public space. As a defining principle however, urban freight has generally been left solely to operate on free market principles, with policy interventions generally being solely ‘problem’ focused. Given the underlying economics of freight transport, and particularly the cost advantages of road-based transport, intervention by public bodies is clearly a critical issue, however to date has received limited attention in the urban freight research literature. The aim of the current research is to examine if there is any relationship between the extent of local authorities’ freight policy development and the success of a policy driven (green) urban freight pilot initiative. This is based on five city case studies located across Northern Europe and uses an adapted form of Kiba-Janiak (Res Transp Bus Manag 24:4–16, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rtbm.2017.05.003) five stages of ‘city maturity’ with regards to urban freight policy development. Each city’s policy framework is mapped onto one of these states of maturity. The success of the pilots in each city is then matched against the maturity of the policy framework. Taken at face value, the results show little correlation between the two, and hence the success of any initiative would appear to be independent of the policy framework. The real issue however is found to be low urban freight transport policy maturities within the case study sample, specifically a lack of tactical and operational functions, i.e. the ability to actually do something. The concern at the more general level is that what this leads to is policy stagnation.

An Evaluation of Ireland’s Sustainable Freight Transport Policy

Background: The Irish government has put forth sustainable transport policy measures, yet the emphasis is mainly on the active travel and sustainable mobility for passenger transport. Contrariwise, freight transport has not received equal consideration in policy measures, regulatory frameworks, and support schemes towards the low-carbon transition. This study seeks to address this imbalance. Methods: The paper proposes an adaptation of the ASI framework for freight transport and assesses the applicability of a number of international sustainable transport measures based on their potential sustainability impact if adopted in Ireland. The research applied a Policy Delphi Method to a heterogeneous expert panel. Results: The findings indicate that the current sustainable freight transport policy measures in Ireland are limited, and the paper suggests 38 measures for supply chains, maritime transport, rail transport and urban freight transport. The analysis further suggests that decarbonisation measures in Ireland should first formulate on the decarbonisation stages ‘avoid’ and ‘shift’, and then move to the ‘improve’ stage, thus leading to a greater impact on decarbonising the freight sector. Conclusions: An ‘ASI for freight transport’ framework is proposed as a taxonomy to systematically compare freight decarbonisation policy measures locally and internationally. This updated framework can serve as a new lens to prioritise sustainable freight policy measures. Recommendations are proposed for developing policy measures for sustainable freight transport in Ireland.

Complete LCA of battery electric and conventional fuel vehicles for freight trips

Estimating emissions savings from alternative vehicular technologies is essential to streamline urban freight transport policy. We estimate freight emissions in the city of Chennai, India using real-world emission factors obtained from on-board emission measurement systems and trip characteristics collected through an establishment survey. India recently enforced Bharat Stage VI (BS-VI) emission standards and both the central and multiple state governments have introduced battery electric vehicle (BEV) policies. To understand potential benefits, we estimate the emission savings with BS-VI vehicles and BEVs for freight delivery. The BS-VI vehicles reduce tailpipe CO emissions by 20.3%, and HC+NOx emissions by 74.5%. The GHG emission saving in CO2 equivalents with BEVs is 50.3%, which increase with a greener energy mix, improved transmission and distribution efficiency, cleaner battery production, and more lifetime vehicle kilometres. BS-VI adoption can deliver significant emission reduction until BEVs and charging infrastructure scale up.

Multiperspective Analysis of Pandemic Impacts on U.S. Import Trade: What Happened, and Why?

U.S. container ports have experienced unpresented congestion since mid-2020. The congestion is generally attributed to import surges triggered by heavy spending on consumer goods during the COVID-19 pandemic. Port congestion has been compounded by the inability of importers to retrieve, receive, and process all the inbound goods they have ordered, resulting in supply chain shortfalls and economic disruption. How can the shipping industry and government organizations predict the end of the current surge and anticipate future surges? Expected seasonal variations in import volume are associated with peak holiday shopping periods; nonseasonal import surges are signaled by other factors. The research goes beyond transportation data sources to examine broader connections between import volume and indicators of economic and retail industry conditions. The strongest and most useful relationship appears to be between retail inventory indicators and containerized import growth. From January 2018 through July 2021, there was a relatively strong negative correlation between retail inventory- and import TEU indices with a 4-month lag (corresponding roughly to the time between import orders and -arrival). In the 2020 to 2021 pandemic period the negative correlation was stronger, again with a 4-month lag. These findings suggest that observers might anticipate import surges after marked, nonseasonal drops in retail inventories, and that import surges are likely to last until target inventory levels are restored. In a broader sense, an awareness of the linkages between consumer demand, retail chain responses, and containerized import volumes could better inform port, freight transportation, and government planning and policy choices.

Vehicle telematics data for urban freight environmental impact analysis

Road freight transport is one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas and air pollutant emissions. Hence, it is increasingly regulated in urban areas to reduce its impact on the environment and human health. The rich data available from telematics has the potential to provide high-resolution information, yet research has not been conducted to understand, evaluate, and ultimately improve the operation and impacts of urban road freight. This paper demonstrates the role of vehicle telematics data in enabling quantitative assessment of the impacts of urban freight transport for the effective management of relevant policies. We present a comprehensive data-driven approach that provides a robust quantitative evaluation and applies it to a case study of the London Lorry Control Scheme (LLCS) policy in UK. We show that, for the studied freight operator, the LLCS policy affects their drivers’ route choice both inside and outside the restricted hours. The spatio-temporal distributions of different parameters including traffic speeds, fuel economy and emissions at different times of the day are compared and analyzed. The results indicate that the unintended consequences of urban freight transport policies can include an extra 15% vehicle-km traveled per trip and 12% liter of fuel consumed per trip.

The use of liquefied natural gas as an alternative fuel in freight transport – Evidence from a driver's point of view

Nearly one-quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions are from the transport sector and around 30% of this are from road freight transport. Seeking to diversify the energy matrix and to reduce air pollution, we studied performance, emissions, and advantages/disadvantages of several alternative fuels compared to the conventional one (Diesel). This paper aims to analyze the driver's view about the use of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) in freight transport and set policy recommendations about it. A survey was conducted through a structure questionnarie in São Paulo (Brazil) to evaluate different aspects related to truck drivers in the use of LNG fuel technology. The results show that despite the lack of knowledge on LNG trucks, most of the respondents related it to an environmentally friendly and more economic option. Despite the higher purchase price, 68% of them would pay a loan for a longer period to acquire the technology. The main aspect about buying a conventional truck is safety (22.4%), however for LNG trucks, a tax reduction (23.1%) is the most crucial one. Lack of knowledge is a considerable barrier to the introduction of LNG for freight transport regarding technology, performance, prices, maintenance, and safety, which represent uncertainty when acquiring the technology.

Transport Service Provider Perception of Barriers and Urban Freight Policies in Brazil

The aim of this paper is to analyze the perceptions of the transport service providers on the barriers in urban freight transport and the restrictions imposed on freight vehicles, identifying which urban freight transport policies can improve this activity in Brazil. Principal component analysis allowed us to identify which are barriers in urban cargo transport and the restrictions imposed on freight vehicles. In addition, we evaluated freight policies that can improve the activity using probabilistic preference. We obtained the database from a web-based survey of transport service providers in Brazil. The results indicate that the urban freight vehicle restriction is related to congestion and availability of loading and unloading areas. The freight vehicle restriction is a result of the lack of information and data. The theft of cargo significantly impacts urban freight transport. Transport service provider company perceptions indicate an urban mobility plan as the most-required freight policy to improve freight mobility. To reduce the barriers to urban freight planning, an understanding of the problem involving the stakeholders is needed. To do so, the challenge is to change the culture in the transportation planning process by integrating various actors to create an urban logistics plan that generates opportunities for the city.

FREIGHT MODAL POLICIES TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE SOCIETY

Freight transport policy analysts struggle to shift truck freight movements to rail to diminish transportation externalities including environmental costs and safety issues. Therefore, policy-makers need to be aware of the consequences of their decisions beforehand. This study is mainly focused on two policies targeting fuel price and access to rail transportation. A nation-wide freight mode choice model is developed for Iran, and shippers’ tendency to choose rail or truck freight transportation is analyzed by considering the shipping time and cost, commodity weight, commodity type, and rail accessibility. Total fuel consumption and air pollution costs are compared in various scenarios. Based on the results, environmental transportation costs are significantly reduced as a result of the modal shift from truck to rail freight transportation, if the government reallocates the gasoline subsidy to the construction of prioritized railroads.

Evaluating urban freight transport policies within complex urban environments

Urban Freight Transport (UFT) entails significant advantages for the economic growth of cities, but can also hamper population quality of life, obstructing vehicles and people movements while exacerbating environmental problems. Many initiatives have been engaged by many city administrators in order to efficiently manage UFT, evaluating different policies at a global scale. From the perspective of operators, most works analyze a limited set of policies or only focus on the benefits of companies. In this work, a decisionmaking process is used to evaluate a large set of UFT policies, through different attributes representing the advantages and limitations of each policy over promoter companies and the society. To do so, an ex-ante procedure in five steps is proposed to classify the policies: (1) attributes definition, (2) attributes weighting, (3) policy-attribute assessment, (4) policy ranking, and (5) feasibility threshold satisfaction. The whole process is supported on consultations to 26 experts regarding shop supply and restocking activities within complex urban environments. Results show a classification of the analyzed policies, according to their suitability for implementation ; which could be extended (directly or with small adjustments) to other contexts, given the flexibility of the decision-making procedure developed.

City logistics in an omnichannel environment. The case of Brussels

Consumers live in an omnichannel environment, in which they use both online and offline channels for their shopping activities. The result is an increase in parcels shipped to consumers’ homes, challenging urban freight systems in terms of efficiency and sustainability. Many measures exist, that aim to optimise and improve activities of logistics service providers in urban areas. However, research on the parcel market and its actors is limited, so it is unclear how parcel distribution is organised and which city logistics measures are (not) adopted. This information is needed to re-think parcel distribution and support policy-making that sustains and improves urban sustainability and quality of life. Therefore, we carried out case-study research with focus on Brussels, Belgium’s largest city and capital. Findings demonstrate that logistics service providers are focused on measures that improve distribution efficiency, which is determined by parcel volume, stop density, delivery failure and urban regulation. To this end, pick-up points and lockers and tools to affect receiver behaviour are implemented most. Generally, Brussels’ parcel distribution market is dominated by conventional vehicles and traditional modes of operation, but regulations and policies are advancing the use of micro-hubs in combination with cargo-bikes. Local authorities can facilitate adoption of city logistics measures for parcel distribution by cooperating and exchanging information with the private sector and by developing a harmonised, long-term vision on freight transport policy across cities and regions.

Influences on urban freight transport policy choice by local authorities

Individual freight transport policies have been investigated in the literature extensively in the last 10–15 years, yet there has surprisingly been very little attention to the process of selecting urban freight transport (UFT) policy measures. This study focuses on UFT policy choice by local authorities, investigating how policy context, resource availability and the need for legitimacy influence how local authorities seek and select UFT specific policies. The methodology is a cross-case analysis of eleven cities across three countries (Sweden, England and Scotland), based on interview and documentary data.Findings reveal that all cities have the same high-level goals, such as reducing emissions and congestion, supporting the economy and improving quality of life. However, in most cases these rather general goals are not broken down into clear objectives with targets that can be measured. Therefore, selected UFT policy measures are chosen from a pool of common measures (primarily access restrictions such as time windows and weight restrictions), but without monitored targets that determine whether or not they are achieving objectives. This does not necessarily mean that the measures chosen are inappropriate, but that there is a lack of a strategic approach to setting and reviewing measures according to achieving specific policy goals. This is primarily a result of a lack of resources and dedicated UFT personnel, as well as challenges related to public acceptability of restrictive policies.

Impacts of Freight Transport on PM2.5 Concentrations in China: A Spatial Dynamic Panel Analysis

Freight transport policies have been developed to reduce air pollution in China. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of a freight modal shift on PM2.5 concentrations using the panel data of 30 provinces in China over the period 1999–2016. The direct and spillover effects of a freight modal shift on PM2.5 concentrations in China, as well as the effects of other socioeconomic factors, were estimated by employing spatial dynamic panel data models. In particular, the channel through which the freight modal shift might be beneficial in reducing PM2.5 concentrations was examined. The results show that PM2.5 concentrations in China do not only decrease with a modal shift of freight from road to rail in a province, but also and to a larger extent with that in neighboring provinces. However, there exist heterogeneous effects across different regions of China. The interaction between a freight modal shift and energy efficiency may lead to a decrease in the PM2.5 concentrations, but only in the central and western regions. These findings provide suggestions for government policies directed to sustainable development.

European urban freight transport policies and research funding: are priorities and H2020 calls aligned?

The European Commission (EC) has recently developed a growing awareness and interest with respect to the challenges urban freight transport (UFT) poses. Consequently, the EC has started defining specific policies and promoted dedicated tools to address them. Transport is a shared responsibility between the EU and the Member States, where the subsidiarity principle applies. Accordingly, the EC provides European local authorities with support in the different areas, including research and innovation funding. This paper aims to assess the linkage and consistency between EC policy priorities for UFT and the corresponding calls of the new Horizon 2020 (H2020) Research Programme, created by the EC in order to foster research and innovation. The paper identifies and extrapolates in a comparable format 10 UFT priority solutions, and consequently estimates their degree of correspondence with the H2020 Work Programmes (WPs) on the basis of the weight in monetary terms resulting from the research funds allocated to each of them. Findings show that, generally, the EC addresses UFT through a systematic and coherent approach. Moreover, all the identified solutions are covered by at least one H2020 call, although the extent of the coverage is heterogeneous.

Integrated evaluation methodology and its application to freight transport policies in the port of Trieste

Abstract In port cities, a smooth integration of the port and the city represents a relevant feature, as it allows to avoid negative mutual effects which can compromise the functioning of the two systems. In fact, the interaction between the port and the city regards not only the economy and transport, but also the environmental, managerial and social fields. Thus, it is essential to identify and design the most appropriate course of action in order to boost the interrelationship between these two entities, along with an efficient performance of port operations: this is possible by adopting a well-structured evaluation methodology that permits to consider many features of the issue at hand and the perspective of various stakeholders. This paper introduces an integrated evaluation method, which combines an analysis by indicators and a multi-stakeholder multi-criteria decision analysis. The method was applied to evaluate the possible implementation of two activities aiming at promoting the port-city integration through the enhancement of freight management in the Port of Trieste. The explicit engagement of the most significant stakeholders in the appraisal procedure and the understanding of their influence over the main goal of the evaluation are specific features of the method.

Towards a decision-support procedure to foster stakeholder involvement and acceptability of urban freight transport policies

PurposeThis paper addresses the complex problem of multi-stakeholder decisions in urban freight transport policy-making from a public authority perspective, by proposing a procedure based on a modelling approach to support stakeholder involvement in the decision-making process. The paper analyses the existing methods that can be used for participatory decision-support, with the intent of contextualizing and introducing the innovative modelling approach.MethodsThe modelling approach consists of a well-thought integration of discrete choice models (DCM) with agent-based models (ABM) as an effective way to account for stakeholders’ opinions in the policy-making process, while mimicking their interaction to find a shared policy package. The integrated modelling approach is able to combine the advantages of the two methods while overcoming their respective weaknesses. Since it is well grounded on sound microeconomic theory, it provides a detailed (static) stakeholders’ behavioural knowledge, but it is also capable of reproducing agents’ (dynamic) interaction during the decision-making process. The integration allows performing an ex-ante behavioural analysis, with the aim of testing the potential acceptability of the solutions proposed. The methodology is applied in a real case study to prove its feasibility and usefulness for participatory decision-making.ResultsThe integrated modelling approach can be used for participatory decision-support and it can be casted in the overall UFT policy-making process. The results of the behavioural analysis, in terms of ranking of potentially accepted policies, linked with the technical evaluations from transport network modelling tools, provide a sound basis for active participation and deliberation with stakeholders and policy-makers. The aim is to guide an effective participation process aimed at consensus building among stakeholders, by proposing them a subset of policies that, as a result of a preliminary analysis, are likely to be accepted while performing well in terms of technical results.ConclusionsThis approach, integrating DCM and ABM, represents a promising way to tackle the complexity of multi-stakeholder involvement in UFT policy-making and to support an efficient and effective decision-making process. It produces an added value for UFT policy-making and it can be framed in the overall context of transport planning. In fact, together with technical and economic analyses, the stakeholder behavioural analysis proposed contributes to the ex-ante policy assessment needed to support decision-makers in taking well-thought decisions.

Productivity growth in urban freight transport: An index number approach

Improvement of operational efficiency is a common goal of most governmental freight transport policies. Productivity and efficiency analysis consequently provides a sound knowledge base. This paper illustrates how axiomatic production theory can be applied to model road freight transport, and proposes a logistics efficiency measure as the function representation. Based thereon, a logistics productivity index that decomposes into technical, cargo mix, vehicle capacity, and efficiency changes is established to determine the rate and drivers of growth. Emphasizing urban logistics, the paper discusses the limited access to reliable data at the micro level and illustrates how local or regional freight transport can be evaluated applying pseudo panel techniques to national freight surveys. Correspondingly, the theoretical productivity index is implemented on a pseudo panel covering the 24 largest cities in Norway between 2008 and 2012, when 12 of them entered a collaboration agreement to promote efficient transport. The results indicate a modest 0.6% average productivity growth. Efficiency change is the key driver of growth, countered by technical stagnation and regress. Negative productivity growth is expected if this trend continues. Moreover, the results do not reveal productivity gains from urban agglomeration or membership of the collaboration agreement, suggesting that prevailing transport and land use policies have so far been unable to foster productivity growth in urban freight transport.

Port reform in Mexico: 1993–2015

Mexican port reform was implemented in the 1990s with the objective of improving Mexico's competitiveness in the world trade market. This paper analyzes the process that was followed to implement port reforms in Mexico and the accomplishments through the review of statistical information. Practicing managers involved in freight transportation policy development could learn from the experiences related to the Mexican port reform process, particularly helpful elements such as the legal and institutional framework that allowed private-sector investment security, the port administration organization and its evolution in responding to changes in the environment, and a zero-labor-liability environment. Issues that still require attention include overall system-approach planning to achieve a true multimodal efficient transportation network and coordination among stakeholders to increase competitiveness.

Modeling Competition on Intermodal Freight Transport Networks

Freight transport policy is increasingly important as current policies do not lead to the desired increase of the market share of intermodal freight transport. Therefore, a method for policymakers and competition authorities to assist in analyzing freight (FT) transport network competition has been developed. This method combines market structures on FT sub-markets and raises them to the network level. The application of the method to a numerical example where a hypothetical acquisition impacts network competition results in four conclusions. First, the acquisition impact on competition in the FT market and its sub-markets depends on the acquisition type (horizontal and vertical). Secondly, the method indicates that acquisitions in the same sub-market (horizontal) do have larger impacts on competition in the broader FT market (e.g. corridors) than acquisitions in different sub-markets (vertical). Thirdly, the results indicate that the smaller the market analyzed, the larger the impact of the acquisition on competition. Finally, different indicators that ‘represent’ market structure and competition might react differently to acquisition.

A Logistics Barometer for South Africa: Towards sustainable freight mobility

Background: South Africa has a disproportionately high freight transport demand owing to industrial development far from ports, low domestic beneficiation and improper modal use. Historical freight transport policy supported primary economic development, failing to preempt the changing economic structure and the resulting freight transport needs, resulting in excessive transport costs and externalities.Objectives: To share the macroeconomic freight transport challenges revealed by South Africa’s Logistics Barometer, and to identify key interventions to address these.Method: Freight flows are modelled by disaggregating the national input–output model into 83 commodity groupings and 372 geographical areas, culminating in a 30-year forecast at 5-year intervals for three scenarios, followed by distance-decay gravity modelling to determine freight flows. Logistics costs are calculated by relating these flows to the costs of fulfilling associated logistic functions.Results: Long-distance transport remains the largest general freight typology and is, due to inefficient macro logistics design, extremely costly, both in terms of intrinsic and extrinsic costs.Conclusion: South Africa’s freight task will grow 2.5-fold by 2043. Logistics and externality costs are already untenable at current levels. The development of domestic intermodal solutions will support the drive towards sustainable freight mobility.