http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/4536/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/20974/ 2009-05-01T00:00:00Z Time-access regulations and vehicle restrictions are increasingly used, especially in western Europe, to improve social sustainability in urban areas. These regulations considerably affect the distribution process of retail chain organizations as well as the environmental burden. This paper studies the impact of governmental time windows, vehicle restrictions, and different retailers' logistical concepts on the financial and environmental performance of retailers. We use a case study with two cases that differ in their drop sizes as input for an experiment. The retailers provided all organizational, flow, and cost data of the distribution process between their distribution centers and their stores. We use these data to calculate the impacts of different scenarios on the retailers' financial and environmental performances based on a fractional factorial design in which urban policies and the retailers' logistical concepts are varied, using vehicle routing software. We test the propositions with a third case. We show that the cost impact of time windows is the largest for retailers who combine many deliveries in one vehicle round-trip. The cost increase due to vehicle restrictions is the largest for retailers whose round-trip lengths are restricted by vehicle capacity. Vehicle restrictions and time windows together do not increase a retailer's cost more than individually. Variations in delivery volume and store dispersion hardly influence the impact of urban policy and the retailer's logistical concept decisions. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/11990/ 2008-03-20T00:00:00Z Although our urbanized civilization requires freight transport in order to sustain it, urban freight transport is especially recognized for its unsustainable impacts. To reduce the unsustainable impacts of urban freight transport, many local governments develop policies that focus sometimes more on banning or restricting urban transport than on making it more sustainable. In the first part of this thesis we develop a framework to structure the urban freight transport field and to review urban fraight transport sustainability initiatives. The number of initiatives that is succesfully implemented in practice turns out te be quite low. In the review and the following analysis, we try to find the barriers for succesful implementation of the initiatives in practice. In the seond part we examine the impacts of the most commonly used local sustainability policies. Six time-window scenarios and their impacts on the economical, environmental and social sustainability are examined based on a multiple case study. Time-window regulations increase both the environmental and distribution costs. Retail chains are affected differently by time-window pressure and vehicle restrictions due to differences in their logical concept. based on an experiment we examine the effects of retailers' logical decisions in combination with local sustainability policies. Next, we examine the degree to which retailers are able te deal with problems caused by time-windows. Combining the primary and secondary distribution, i.e. factory gate pricing, results in more sustainable distribution operations for the retailer and in less sensivity towards time-window regulations. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/11907/ 2007-11-01T00:00:00Z Local governments in Western Europe increasingly use city time-access regulations to improve social sustainability. These regulations significantly influence the distribution process of retail chain organizations. This paper studies the impact of governmental time-window pressure on retailers’ logistical concepts and the consequential financial and environmental distribution performance. We determine which dimensions in the retailer's logistical concept determine its cost and emission sensitivity to increasing time-window pressure. Our research is based on a multiple case study of fourteen Dutch retail cases in different sectors and with different store formulas. The retailers provided all organizational, flow and cost data of their secondary distribution (between distribution center and stores). We use these data to calculate the impacts of different time-window pressure scenarios, including the current situation, using vehicle routing software. It appears that cost and emissions increases are moderate, when few cities are affected. However, as more cities are affected, costs and emissions increase considerably, particularly if time-window lengths become shorter. Time-windows harmonized between cities lead to fewer negative effects. We find various dimensions that contribute to reducing a retailer's sensitivity to time-window pressure. We formulate conclusions hypothesizing the links between time-window pressure, its effects, and the dimensions that determine these effects. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/8020/ 2006-10-09T00:00:00Z Local authorities increasingly use time-access regulations to improve social sustainability issues, such as the attractiveness of a city centre, the shopping climate, or to reduce the nuisance caused by urban freight transport. However, these time-windows increase delivery costs and the environmental burden. This paper evaluates five different time-window schemes on their social, environmental, and economic impacts. The first scheme examines the current time-window policy scheme. In the second scheme time-windows are harmonized between different cities. The third scheme moves all deliveries to the night. The fourth and fifth schemes evaluate the consequences of the proposal by the Dutch committee for urban distribution (committee Sakkers). The fourth scheme includes noise-legislation for delivering during the night, the fifth does not. This research includes interviews with several Dutch policy-making officials and is further based on a multiple-case study of fourteen large retail chains in different sectors and with different formulas. The results show that the current time-window scheme performs worst. The best time-window scheme would be a combination of the proposal of the committee Sakkers and the harmonization scenario. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/11906/ 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z Urban freight transport has many sustainable aspects. It contributes to economic vitality and the competitiveness of a region. However, the less socially and environmentally friendly effects such as noise, pollutant emissions, and nuisance, are usually the central theme in designing urban freight transport policies. Restricting policies as time access restrictions and vehicle restrictions gain popularity among Dutch local authorities. More than half of the municipalities uses time access restrictions. In spite of the popularity of these policy measures, the effects on the distribution of retailers, the environment and the transport costs are not known yet. In this paper we present three case studies of food retailers, in order to examine the effects of time access restrictions and vehicle weight restrictions. We discuss the impacts on the transport costs and the distribution processes (on the retailer’s side) and the environmental impacts. To find these effects we design five scenarios, in which we vary the length of time access restrictions, the allowed weight of the weight restriction and the number of cities in which these regulations are used. In these scenarios we adapt, based on the likely reaction of the involved food retailers, the distribution activities to fit the regulations. The results show that the vehicle weight restriction as well as the time access restrictions have a negative impact on the retailers’ transport costs. In most cases we see that the policy measures also cause an increase in the pollutant CO2 emissions that are emitted during the distribution of the goods. The time access restrictions cause a cost-increase that develops more or less convexly, as more stores are affected by this policy measure. The turning point is around 45% of the stores affected. The weight restriction causes linear cost-increase as more stores are affected. Both policy measures affect especially the roundtrips that combine multiple less than truckload orders for different stores. The policy measures have a different effect on different retailers. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/7090/ 2005-11-16T00:00:00Z Local governments in Western Europe increasingly use city time-access regulations to improve social sustainibility. These regulations significantly influence the distribution process of retail chain organizations. This paper studies the impact of governmental timewindow pressure on retailers’ logistical concept and consequential financial and environmental distribution performance. We determine which dimensions in the retailer’s logistical concept determine its cost and emission sensitivity to increasing time-window pressure. Our research is based on a multiple case study of fourteen Dutch retail cases in different sectors and with different store formulas. The retailers provided all organizational, flow and cost data of their secondary distribution (between distribution center and stores). We use these data to calculate the impacts of different time-window pressure scenarios, including the current situation, using vehicle routing software. It appears that cost increases are moderate, when few cities are affected. However, as more cities are affected, costs increase considerably, particularly if time-window lengths become shorter. Time-windows harmonized between cities, lead to less negative effects. We find various dimensions that contribute to reducing the retailer’s sensitivity to timewindow pressure. We formulate conclusions hypothesizing the links between timewindow pressure, its effects, and the dimensions that determine these effects.