Abstract
Urban freight management faces the challenges of increasing traffic demand while preserving the environment at the same time. Urban freight consolidation centre (UCC) is considered as a solution to sustainable urban freight development. In this report, we reviewed recent UCC practices and conducted an analysis on the environmental impact of a potential UCC in Singapore. The review of the UCC cases revealed that the key success factors for a UCC include existence of problems associated with urban freight deliveries, bottom-up driven by beneficiaries, higher participation rate, as well as available funding and public support. The cost of implementing an UCC is high, therefore an ex-ante evaluation should be conducted to determine the potential benefits and risks of an UCC. There are two possible UCC schemes. An offsite UCC can serve to consolidated deliveries for a shopping mall or district located in the crowded city centre. Different scenarios are built based on a combination of UCC participation rates, UCC vehicle capacity and UCC vehicle fuel types. Using survey data on retailer restocking behaviour in the city, the best scenario could achieve 38% reduction on delivery trips, 38% reduction on last mile delivery distance, 40% reduction on carbon (CO2e) emissions and 65% reduction on idling emissions. The reduction in waiting time and idling emission reduction at the loading bay start to diminish after 50% UCC participation rate. In terms of vehicle fuel type, electric vehicle (EV) is the best choice considering emissions reduction. An in-mall consolidation centre can receive deliveries within a shopping mall, reducing congestion at the loading/unloading area. Using survey data on delivery activities in a shopping mall in Singapore, queuing activities and idling emission are evaluated for scenarios of different reduction in handling time because of the in-mall consolidation scheme. The best result gives 39% reduction on idling emission which corresponds to 11.9kg volatile organic compounds, 49.3kg carbon monoxide and 41.2kg nitrogen oxides (NOx) per year. In conclusion, having UCC in Singapore can result in environmental benefit. EV is recommended for offsite consolidation centre scheme and at least 50% retailer’s participation rate is required excluding the food sectors. 30% reduction in handling time by in-mall consolidation scheme is optimal in reducing the waiting time and idling emission.