Urban food logistics is facing major challenges: population growth, congestion, environmental

damage along with the increased use of convenience stores and home delivery of groceries
purchased online. The U-TURN project aims to identify new models for urban food
transportation through three pilots in Athens, Milan and London.

Update on Project U-TURN

Welcome to the 4th Project U-TURN newsletter. In this issue we examine the benefits and opportunities for
Transport collaboration identified through the project, as well as showcasing and inviting you to the
upcoming Urban Freight Conference.
 Newsletter March 2018

Proving the benefits of transport

collaboration CIVITAS Urban Freight
Conference
Pilot 1 – Increasing transport efficiency in Athens
23 – 24 April 2018
A three-week live test using real time data from four large 3PL
Brussels
companies identified significant opportunities to increase transport
efficiency and reduce the overall impact of vehicles. Some of those
U-TURN is proud to join forces with
results are described in the graphic below:
our partner projects (CITYLAB,
NOVELOG, and SUCCESS) to bring
you an interactive event including
Results per week
presentations, and exhibitions,
Input Matches breakout and training sessions,
Time period Company
Loads Vehicles Loads Vehicles
workshops and awards.
1st week Sarmed 73 26 2 0
02-06/10/2017 Logika 7 4 3 0
Synergy 6 0 0 0
We invite you to discover and
OB 0 0 0 0
2nd week Sarmed 120 32 9 7 discuss the tools and policy
09-13/10/2017 56% matched loads
Logika 28 19 8 7
53% matched vehicles
recommendations generated by
Synergy 6 0 2 0
OB 0 0 0 0 these four projects to reduce
3rd week Sarmed 147 39 5 5 impacts and costs of freight and
16-20/10/2017 Logika 13 10 6 4
37,5% matched loads
Synergy 2 0 1 34,6%0matched vehicles service trips in urban areas.
OB 2 0 0 0 21

The event will also feature

The companies used the bespoke created U-TURN shared user IT interactive dialogue with US
platform to identify collaboration opportunities by offering spare stakeholders, including the US
capacity within their fleets, also searching for other vehicles with Department of Transportation,
available space to facilitate the consolidation of shipments. currently partnering with the
European Commission for the
The results from the study are positive in multiple ways, not only
Urban Freight R&D Twinning
because of the real opportunities to reduce costs by collaborating on
Initiative.
transport, but also because the companies wish to continue to use the
platform after the project has finished.
Register by following the link
below:
New pilot round in February 2018 upon companies’ request
https://www.polisnetwork.eu/even
ts2/CIVITAS-Urban-Freight-
Conference-23-24-April-2018-
Brussels
 Newsletter March 2018

Pilot 2 – Identifying opportunities for farmers to

In 2018 U-TURN will be
attending and presenting at the
collaborate to enable more economic transport of
following events goods into Milan

City deliveries using micro- The partners in Italy have been working on understanding the food
hubs and innovative freight system for agricultural production around Milan and specifically to
bikes, 8th March, Amsterdam, assess how much transportation was taking place from farm businesses
Netherlands into retail outlets in the city.

In Amsterdam, the EU-funded
Civitas Citylab project, including
PostNL as industrial partner,
investigated several possible
solutions. Ultimately, the
chosen solution was the use of
several city centre micro-hubs
in combination with innovative
freight bikes. The
implementation has been
considered such a success, in
terms of environmental and
financial benefits, that PostNL is
upscaling the solution in
Amsterdam and transferring it
to other Dutch cities.
www.citylab-project.eu
Transport Research Arena (TRA
2018) Vienna 16-19th April
24 farm businesses took part in the assessment with data collected to
ascertain the routes taken, frequency of transport and loading capacities
amongst other areas.
In a similar way to the Athens pilot, this case has made use of the U-
TURN platform to assess the opportunities for transport collaboration,
and like the Athens pilot the results have been very positive.
The real-life data sets have been used to run U-TURN platform tests with
different combinations and the results indicate that there are several
opportunities for collaboration between the farmers. Based on their
historic deliveries 33% of the trips matched with others that were
undertaken, so an immediate benefit could be proven.
The team are now undertaking a number of ‘to-be’ assessments based
on a reduced number of farm businesses acting as transport
consolidators on behalf of the wider group. The work is pointing towards
a high level of benefits being achievable, and the case has provided for
further important validation of the U-TURN platform.

Synopsis:
Digitisation, Automation and
Decarbonisation are major
trends that will drastically
change the way we live, work
and use mobility and transport
in the future. Under a heading
of ‘A digital Era for Transport’
TRA 2018 will explore, discuss
and demonstrate these major
paradigm shifts specifically
directed at important areas of
our life, such as transport,
mobility, logistics and industrial
production.
www.traconference.eu
 Newsletter March 2018

Pilot 3 – Identifying how grocery retailers could Current and upcoming

collaborate on last mile deliveries to increase transport publications…
efficiency in London
The logistics of UK grocery E-
The pilot in London has focused on the emerging solution of micro hubs in commerce home delivery
grocery supply chains to reduce the costs and provide better customer LCP
service for the consumer. Three different supply chain structures were
identified, with the micro hub playing a different role in each case, and Green Urban Transport
then the scenarios were modelled to identify what the benefit levels could Collaboration in UK Online
be. Food
Cranfield University

New Delivery Models - Recap Collaborative logistics in

Milan: The results of the U-
Picking Locations Micro Hubs around TURN project
Consumers
of Retailers Residential Areas TRT

Large Small
Flows Flows Contact Details
1. Last mile distribution For the latest information
2. Collection
Different ‘To Be’ models to be studied: please contact either
1. Shared Micro-Hubs and shared last mile delivery from these Eleni.Zampou@intrasoft-intl.com
Micro-Hubs to the customers’ houses Or
2. Shared routings / trucks from retailer picking locations to richard.walters@lcpconsulting.com
shared Micro-Hubs without considering the customer delivery
3. Shared Micro-Hubs where customers collect their online orders
Visit our website
4
www.u-turn-
project.com
The benefits have been established across a variety of different KPI’s that
were used across the three projects as an assessment method. At a
headline level those include the following in the last mile delivery leg of Click on the links
the supply chain: below to follow U-
• 25% reduction in travel distance TURN:
• 40% reduction in number of trucks
• 50% increase in fleet utilisation

The UK Ecommerce grocery market is significantly challenged in terms of

the cost burden related to last mile distribution, and the need to satisfy
consumer demands for an ever more complex mix of service options. This
backdrop taken together with the significant market growth being
experienced makes for an industry that has all the right characteristics for
new and emerging business models. The research sheds detailed light on
where the opportunities lie.