FLANDERS (Leuven, Ghent, Mechelen)

Belgium

Context

The Flanders case consists of testing an innovative Logistics-as-a-Service platform in three small to medium-sized cities (Ghent, Mechelen and Leuven) located in Flanders, Belgium.

The region of Flanders has announced the ambition to introduce zones for zero emission urban freight in cities. Although the three cities are unique, they share the consideration of introducing low/zero emission zones for urban freight. These cities want to help actors of the urban logistics supply chain to deal with policy measures taken, by presenting them sustainable alternatives.

MECHELEN (86.000 population) is a leading city promoting sustainable urban logistics. With the “Covenant for Sustainable Urban Logistics”, an agreement signed by 31 logistics companies and interest organisations, the city aims for zero emission logistics by 2030. The city is keen to explore how to make its logistics more sustainable and more efficient. To this end, how could IT applications be helpful? Which data are relevant and how can these data prove useful to better manage freight in the city?

LEUVEN (102.000 population + 50.000 students) is the fastest growing city in Belgium and is one of the 100 Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities by 2030 (EU Missions). With “LKN 2030” (Leuven Climate neutral 2030) Leuven established a cooperation of more than 60 local partners (high tech, medical field, universities with international acclaim, innovative start-ups) which all have a commitment to LKN2030. To accelerate the transition to sustainable city logistics, the city wants to support local stakeholders by offering digital tools, data insights leading to more efficiency and sustainable business models for both international LSP’s and local SME’s. The city is involved in several city logistics projects. “Wij.leveren/we.deliver” is a digital distribution platform for the sustainable first mile delivery of e-commerce goods from local shops. Within the FlexCURB project, the city has gained experience in flexible curb management with focus on loading & unloading (smart) zones. In the new project “Smart City Logistics”, the city gets a more precise view on the city logistics landscape by building a neutral registration platform for deliveries in the city, focusing on collaboration scenarios between logistic services providers.

GHENT (260.000 population) implemented a circulation plan that avoids through-traffic and aims for a modal shift within and around its historic centre. To pave the way towards efficient and sustainable first and last mile traffic, the city founded the urban distribution platform: GentLevert. The city’s authorities are keen on investigating how technology and policy support this transition. Ghent is developing what they call a pre-SULP guideline. Investigating how the choice for the mode/moment and place of transport can be influenced, is at the core of the cities ambition.

THE CHALLENGE

For our Living Labs we define the next challenges:

Implement the use of a uniform LaaS platform in different cities with the possibility to integrate their own policies and business rules, of which the methodology is transferable to other cities.
Presenting more sustainable, data driven alternatives to actors of the urban logistics supply chain
Find out how to facilitate the use of these alternatives with a toolkit of incentives and policies.

GREEN-LOG INNOVATION

The aim of this project is to put in place, analyse and monitor demonstrations of new urban logistics solutions that harmonise the existing innovations in the cities. The objective is to develop a functional Logistics-as-a-Service platform where urban logistics data is used to link demand (e.g., urban freight shipments, on-demand requirements, storage requirements) and supply (e.g. the provision of sustainable logistics services, warehouse space, need for certain type of vehicles) in order to improve the sustainability of city logistics.

This Living Lab will consider indicators such as fill rate, stop densities, routes, and parking issues on the one hand, and demand insights such as detailed origin-destinations and consumer requirements on the other. These data will allow : (i) to understand how the LaaS can function as efficiently as possible, i.e. what are the roles for the different stakeholders? are there efficiency gains? etc. (ii) in the LaaS, to link demand (e.g. urban freight shipments, on-demand requirements, storage requirements, need for certain type of vehicles) and supply (e.g. the provision of sustainable logistics services, warehouse space, availability of cargo bikes) as to maximally improve the sustainability.

RELEVANT OUTPUTS

A transferable methodology to implement a functional LaaS-platform that connects logistic demand and supply, that allows different levels of policy control, for example on how the freight is transported and where the freight flows. With the goal to find out how a LaaS platform can contribute to the transition towards climate-neutral cities.