Reducing the number of freight delivery vehicles operating in urban areas during daytime and peak traffic hours can reduce traffic congestion, delivery costs and carbon emissions, a study has determined.
During a presentation at the Southern African Transport Conference, on Tuesday, University of Pretoria Industrial and Engineering Systems Department senior lecturer Wilna Bean discussed the findings of a case study that used a multi-agent transport simulation to investigate some of the potential impacts on congestion should after-hours delivery of freight be implemented.
Based on the City of Cape Town, Bean’s study found that reducing the number of commercial vehicles delivering goods in urban areas during the day and peak hours could significantly reduce traffic congestion.
To reduce the number of commercial vehicles on South Africa’s roads, she cited after-hours deliveries as a potential solution to consider, which could be especially beneficial to receivers operating in the retail or manufacturing sector, as after-hours deliveries could mean a reduction in delivery costs and carbon emissions.
However, in order to increase after-hours deliveries, Bean stated that, while freight carriers may be willing, freight receivers would need to be convinced of the benefits thereof or be incentivised to implement after-hours deliveries.
Other challenges could also include increased working hours for receivers, which could imply additional working hour costs, while security could also prove to be cumbersome.
Timeframes for after-hours deliveries would also need to be taken into consideration prior to implementation, considering that the early morning transportation of goods could result in additional safety risks.