In the Media
A research team led by Giacomo Dalla Chiara from the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Washington, has published the results of a study simulating the performance of different operational scenarios for cargo delivery — a truck-only scenario and a cargo-cycle with mobile hubs scenario— under different delivery demand and parking conditions.
“A drone can’t really compete with a very full truck making 100 deliveries in a fairly small space,” said Anne Goodchild. “The farther apart those customers are, the less room for consolidation, the more competitive a drone can be.”
The pandemic has led many cities to quickly open up streets to pedestrians.. “The curb is this incredibly flexible space, yet we typically think everything that happens there is permanent,” says Anne Goodchild, who runs the Urban Freight Lab, a program that seeks to understand urban delivery, logistics, and transportation. “This moment gives us an opportunity.”
The challenges inherent in urban logistics aren’t new. “But they’ve been exacerbated by current trends,” says Anne Goodchild, professor and founding director of the Supply Chain Transportation and Logistics Center at the University of Washington.
Dr. Anne Goodchild formed the Urban Freight Lab, a working group of academics, cities and industry leaders, in part to study “the final 50 feet,” a term that describes the last leg of a package’s journey from a delivery truck to the customer. Package theft and failed deliveries are two major concerns, she says.
Bowen Island Municipality (BIM) worked with University of Washington researcher Fiete Krutein to investigate scenarios that could result in an evacuations and the locally available vessels that could help.
Cities have seen a dramatic increase in the volume of freight and deliveries moving on their streets. As residents stay home, often by medical necessity, safe and efficient goods movement is critical to ensuring everyone has access to essential items like food and paper goods. Consequently, more people are ordering online goods – online retailers and delivery companies have seen nearly a 50 percent jump in orders over the past two months.
With all of those trucks heading out into suburbia to deliver your latest gadget, fashion find, or book, is online shopping terrible for the environment?
Research by Urban Freight Lab of Supply Chain Transportation & Logistics Center (University of Washington) revealed a lack of an established and widely accepted definition for the concept of consolidation centers or microhubs.
Anne Goodchild, a professor at the University of Washington, has found that consolidating deliveries in one area produces fewer climate-harming emissions than the same people driving back and forth to multiple stores.
The shift to grocery delivery should be good news for sustainability because having a truck drop off multiple orders is more efficient than everyone driving their vehicle to the store. But “some delivery services are not on the consolidation model,” says our Anne Goodchild.
Jeff Bezos says ordering groceries online is better for the planet. Is he right? Our Anne Goodchild comments.
The idea of a grocery store as a terminal — instead of a consumer shopping center — is likely to gain traction as a result of the pandemic, said Anne Goodchild, director of the Urban Freight Lab.
Anne Goodchild is featured expert in Convoy’s new video series on COVID-19 and its impact on the freight market.
“Buying online or not doesn’t account for the main variable,” Anne Goodchild says. “The main variable is how far away did something come from. And then how quickly did you demand that it get to you.