Application of the HARMONY tactical freight simulator to a case study for zero emission zones in Rotterdam

As part of a broader vision for emission-free city logistics, the city of Rotterdam plans to introduce a zero-emission zone in combination with urban consolidation centers (UCCs) at the outskirt of the city to generate a shift to zero-emission vehicles. For the design of this zero-emission zone many research questions arise that require a systematic analysis of the impacts of the transition scenarios on the freight demand patterns, the use and market shares of new (zero-emission) vehicles, and the impacts of truck flow and emissions. As a case study the authors implemented heterogenous transition scenarios for each logistic segment into the Tactical Freight Simulator from the project HARMONY and analysed the system wide impacts. This model is multi-agent, empirical and shipment based and simulates long-term tactical choices (distribution channel choice, shipment size and vehicle type choice, sourcing) and short-term tactical choices (tour formation, delivery times). Results shows that the impact of UCCs is not trivial: we can see a small increase in vehicle kilometers overall: +0.25% which can be attributed to the rerouting of shipments through the UCCs. Calculations confirm that emissions are reduced dramatically, by 90%, inside the Zero-Emission Zone. At the city scale this corresponds to a reduction of almost 10%, as most freight related traffic is generated by the port and involves long haul HGV transport that do not enter the city center. At a regional level the reduction of impacts is very small. More measures are needed if more ambitious reductions in emissions are to be achieved.

• Record URL:
  https://doi.org/10.1177/03611981211012694
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AT025 Standing Committee on Urban Freight Transportation.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  ,    
• Authors:
  • de Bok, Michiel
  • Tavasszy, Lóránt
  • Kourounioti, Ioanna
  • Thoen, Sebastiaan
  • Eggers, Larisa
  • Nielsen, Victor
  • Streng, Jos
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 100th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2021-1-5 to 2021-1-29
• Date: 2021

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 16p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air quality management; Demand; Simulation; Urban areas; Zero emission vehicles
• Geographic Terms: Rotterdam (Netherlands)
• Subject Areas: Environment; Freight Transportation; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01763872
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: TRBAM-21-02289
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Feb 4 2021 10:57AM