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Case Studies 83
NICHES, (2007) Innovative Approaches in City Logistics: Inner-City Night Delivery, available online at http://
www.niches-transport.org/fileadmin/archive/Deliverables/D4.3b_5.8_b_PolicyNotes/14683_pn7_night_
delivery_ok_low.pdf
London Freight Quality Partnerships Network (2010), available online at http://www.londonsfqps.co.uk/
Home.aspx
Bristol (United Kingdom): Reducing Freight Impacts
through Consolidation Centers
Background
Bristol, England, is the largest urban area in the southwest region of the United Kingdom (see
Exhibit 7-7), covering approximately 110 square kilometers. In 2009, the city of Bristol had an
estimated population of 433,100. Bristol has an estimated drive-to-work population of over 1 mil-
lion, and is considered one of the most congested cities in the United Kingdom with average peak-
hour traffic speeds of approximately 16 mph. In the city center, the main retail area of Broadmead
receives 100,000 deliveries per year, contributing to congestion and harmful emissions.
Bristol is a regional center for industry, commerce, education, and culture, and serves as a
major transportation hub providing a gateway to the southwest region of the United Kingdom
via the M4 and M5 motorways. In addition, the Bristol Temple Meads Train Station is on a
strategic national rail network. Bristol has 48 distinct shopping areas collectively offering over
940,000 square meters of floor space (retail, leisure, and other services). The city is unusual in
Exhibit 7-7. Location of Bristol in the southwest United Kingdom.
Source: http://www.progress-project.org/Progress/pdf/Chapter%20A%20Bristol.pdf
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84 Guidebook for Understanding Urban Goods Movement
Principal Findings that independent retailers occupy 70 percent of all retail units (49 percent of floor space) and
form unique shopping attractions, drawing people into the area. Unlike the traditional single city
Freight Consolida- center shopping experience offered in many United Kingdom cities, Bristol has several specialty
tion Centers (FCCs) retail areas (e.g., Queens Road/White Ladies Road, Christmas Steps/Michaels Hill, and Clifton
can reduce truck Village), each with its own unique retail experience. Noteworthy items are
traffic levels in · Average peak-hour traffic speeds down to 16 mph in some parts of the city (23 percent of trav-
eling time within the city can be spent stationary in traffic queues);
urban areas, alter · Road freight that accounts for approximately 81 percent of total freight ton-km moved in the
the type of truck area;
used (e.g., fewer · The city center retailing area, Broadmead, which receives 100,000 deliveries per year con-
tributing to congestion, traffic-related air pollution, and vehicle conflict; and
light or very heavy · The Council's Local Transport Plan and Air Quality Action Plan, which recognizes the need to
trucks), reduce the minimize the impact of freight vehicles while ensuring the economic vitality of the city center.
environmental
The Story
impacts associated
Truck movements contribute to the congestion and pollution problems found in Bristol, as
with truck activity, well as other issues relating to road safety, negatively affecting the condition of the roads and
improve the effi- causing conflicts with other road users. The City Council's transportation strategy, set out to
ciency of urban support the economy of the city and the effective delivery of goods, is seen as essential to achiev-
ing this aim. At the same time, however, it is widely recognized that the impacts of trucks enter-
freight transport, ing the city center needed to be minimized based on research suggesting that the average retail
and reduce the business may be receiving up to 10 "core goods" and 7 service vehicle visits per week (Cherrett
et al. 2009).
need for goods
storage and logis- Bristol City Council's Local Transport Plan and Air Quality Action Plan both state the need to
reduce the impacts of trucks without adversely affecting the economic vitality of the city center.
tics activities near In response, the Bristol City Council set out to
the urban core. 1. Establish a local freight network in the form of a Freight Quality Partnership (FQP) to pro-
mote and facilitate the efficient, economic, safe, and sustainable distribution of freight in Bris-
tol and the surrounding area;
2. Introduce access control and priority measures to improve efficiency while minimizing the
impact of freight movements in conjunction with the redevelopment of the core shopping
area; and
3. Through the use of the Freight Consolidation Center (FCC), achieve a 50 percent reduction
in associated delivery trips and a doubling of load factors related to consolidated reverse flows.
A key issue from the outset was the lack of dialogue and understanding between the local
authorities and the freight sector in terms of individual user needs. To address this, Bristol estab-
lished a local freight network in 2003, which took the form of an FQP. The aim of this partner-
ship was to promote and facilitate the efficient, economic, safe, and sustainable distribution of
freight in Bristol and the surrounding area. It consisted of 17 organizations including 4 neigh-
boring communities, logistics providers, and retailers.
The Bristol FCC opened in 2004, consisting of a 5,000-square-foot warehouse operated by Exel
Logistics, on an established industrial estate (Emerald Park), 11 km northwest of Bristol close to
both the M4 and M5 motorways. There are benefits resulting from a multi-user FCC as a means of
reducing truck impacts in an urban center. The definition of a FCC in this context (DfT 2010) is
A consolidation center allows the grouping of individual shipments or partial loads from different sup-
pliers/logistics providers, destined for the same locality, so that a smaller number of full loads can be trans-
ported to their final destination.
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Case Studies 85
An FCC is usually implemented for one or more of the following reasons (Browne et al. 2005):
· To reduce truck traffic levels (reducing truck movements in the urban area through improved
consolidation or modal shift);
· To alter the type of truck used (e.g., fewer light or very heavy trucks);
· To reduce the environmental impacts associated with truck activity (i.e., through a reduction
in total trips and/or greater use of environmentally friendly vehicles);
· To improve the efficiency of urban freight transport operations (through improved load fac-
tors or fewer deliveries); and
· To reduce the need for goods storage and logistics activities near the urban core (offering stor-
age facilities at the FCC, as well as other value-added services).
The Bristol FCC serves the Broadmead area of Bristol's urban core where over 300 retailers are
located. The Bristol Consolidation Centre (BCC) is serviced by two delivery vehicles (a 7.5-ton
and 17.5-ton rigid) and is testing the use of a 9-ton Newton electric truck built by Smith Electric
Vehicles that can travel at 50 mph and has a range of 100 miles on a single 6- to 8-hour charge.
To act as a "stick" and enhance the appeal of the Bristol FCC to retailers, Bristol City Council
restricted freight vehicle access times to the main pedestrian portion of the retail area from
5 A.M. to 8 A.M., and 6 P.M. to 8 P.M., and accompanied this restriction with a strict requirement
for trucks to use a one-way route system.
Lessons and Conclusion
Logistics providers/suppliers' vehicles with goods destined for city center retailers deliver into
the Bristol FCC where items are stored. Once a vehicle load has been consolidated, the goods are
loaded out in roll cages via one of the three dedicated Bristol FCC service vehicles into the city
center for a round-robin style delivery.
When launched, the consolidation center was 100 percent publicly funded, with time-limited
financial assistance (20022006) coming through the VIVALDI (Visionary and Vibrant Actions
through Local Transport Demonstration Initiatives) Project. Since 2006, efforts have been
made to move to a business model based on maximum cost recovery from the participating
retailers.
In 2007, the BCC was serving 64 retailers whose combined delivery vehicle movements had
fallen by 75 percent (6,945 vehicle movements) over the pre-BCC case. This direct reduction in
vehicle movements equated to an annual savings of 178,000 vehicle kilometers, 20.3 tons of CO2,
660 kg of NOx, and 19.7 kg of PM10. In addition, reverse logistics resulted in 12.9 tons of consol-
idated cardboard and plastic being collected from the 64 retailers and recycled.
The logistics of the delivery system proved to be very reliable with 100 percent on-time deliv-
eries, no recorded loss or damage to stock, and the majority of retailers reporting savings on the
previous mean delivery times, some in the order of 20 minutes. Consequently, 38 percent of the
participating retailers indicated that this enabled their staff to spend more time with customers,
with 45 percent stating that staff morale had been improved. Ninety-four percent of the partic-
ipants stated that they would recommend the BCC to other retailers.
References and Sources
Cherrett T. J., McLeod F. N., Maynard, S., Hickford, A., Allen, J., Browne, M. (2009), "Understanding Retail
Supply Chains to Enable `Greener' Logistics," 14th Annual Logistics Research Network Conference, 911
September 2009. Cardiff University.
DfT (2010), Freight Consolidation Study (prepared by TTR and TRL), available online at http://www.dft.gov.uk/
pgr/freight/research/freightreport/
