Southampton

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Transport Systems Catapult (July 2018) - Consolidation Centres Can Improve Air Quality in Towns and Cities
Motivation and concept
Large municipal organisations (e.g. local authorities, hospitals, universities) generate significant numbers of van and lorry trips through their purchasing of goods and services. The Southampton living lab aims to reduce freight impact by identifying consolidation opportunities and encouraging implementation. Participating organisations may directly derive benefit from more efficient purchasing practices and from reduced time spent handling goods from multiple carriers. Southampton City Council supported this through the setting up of the Southampton Sustainable Distribution Centre operated by Meachers Global Logistics from their premises at Nursling Industrial Estate, Southampton since February 2014. The city is motivated by the need to improve air quality standards - Southampton City Council announced (Dec 2016) its Clean Air Strategy with future implications for freight transport. As a step towards this, Southampton City Council's vehicle fleet was recently reviewed with a view to making more use of electric vehicles and a fleet replacement plan is being developed.

Sustainable Distribution Centre at Meachers Global Logistics City Council team and new EV
Implementation status and next steps
Various public sector institutions were reviewed and interviewed to assess the level of interest and potential benefits. Extensive data were collected for deliveries to the University of Southampton and Southampton Solent University with results being reported in the following papers: Sustainable procurement for greener logistics in the higher education sector (McLeod et al), Logistics Research Network Conference, Derby, UK, 9-11 Sept 2015 Access this document Shop and we'll drop - Understanding the impacts of student e-shopping on deliveries to university halls of residence during Black Friday week (McLeod et al), Logistics Research Network Conference, Hull, UK, 7-9 Sept 2016 Access this document While potential for consolidation was identified for both universities various barriers currently prevent operational changes, including financial constraints and concerns about any delays to urgent deliveries (e.g. where same day delivery required). In the hospital sector, there appears to be both potential for consolidation and an interest in changing operations from both the Isle of Wight NHS Trust and University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust with Citylab partners and stakeholders currently discussing options.
Local workshop "Making freight consolidation centres work - Experiences from Southampton", was held Friday 27 January, 2017 Link to workshop report
Cartoon illustrating the concept

Cartoon produced by: Matt Sloe Link to full-size cartoon