There was awareness of non-compulsory Urban Consolidation Centres (UCCs) in place around the UK, as well as high-profile examples of CUCCs such as Heathrow and for the Houses of Parliament. A few respondents (such as DHL) have operated or are operating UCCs and have first-hand knowledge of how they work. Councils such as Bristol are exploring the concept and have previously funded UCCs. There was less certainty regarding the international examples such as Monaco, although this was cited by a small number of stakeholders.
There was concern from operators and associations that CUCCs as a concept (although not necessarily wrong in principle) would not be effective at addressing the issues they are designed to solve and confusion as to what impact they would have. It was felt that a CUCC would likely increase road miles and inefficiencies in the sector and that every time additional movements are added costs (time, damage, losses, overheads, labour) increase.
Public sector respondents were interested and broadly supportive of CUCCs and generally there is an understanding of their rationale. Benefits cited include improvements in air quality, efficiency improvements for operators/suppliers (in contrast with statements from freight operators), congestion reduction, contribution to sustainability/Corporate Social Responsibility goals for businesses/operators using it and income for landlords. Difficulties with finding available and suitable space (particularly in London), scale, and the cost of land were all cited as issues.
However, the extra time, cost and risks associated with them means they are not popular with those expected to use them. It was noted that local authorities often promote consolidation through their policies but don’t undertake it themselves.
Examples across Europe of both CUCCs and UCCs were highlighted, however the lack of a commercial case in most instances means they require public funding to operate, and once that is withdrawn the consolidation centre often closes. It was noted that it is often difficult to find out when a consolidation centre closed.
Respondents felt the solution to the issues identified was enhancing the availability of land for logistics. Land is often taken over by competing land-use types such as residential, particularly in urban areas. Non-optimum locations for depots and warehousing result in unnecessary road miles and inefficiencies. Respondents also felt that there were alternative means of achieving the same objectives, with the example of delivery arrangements during the London Olympics cited and the success of bringing those affected onboard with the temporary restrictions.
It was felt that these measures and the issues they cause would be disproportionate to the problems that DfT are looking to solve, namely the reduction of congestion and environmental impacts of deliveries. Delivery companies are increasingly important to the facilitation of trade and stimulating the economy, and with the growth of ecommerce they are more prominent in the public consciousness, however it was felt that there was little statistical evidence that they are the greatest contributors to these issues.
It was felt that as the UK’s freight sector is highly efficient there is not the spare capacity and empty running that a CUCC would look to address. Margins are tight and the sector (particularly the parcel sector) is highly competitive. As such, load factors (how full the vehicle is) are high and delivery schedules are optimised using complex software. Therefore, it was felt that a CUCC would represent full vehicles being unloaded and the goods loaded onto another vehicle for final delivery. This would be inefficient and not reduce the number of freight vehicles in the affected area (unless larger vehicles were used to combine loads, which results in different issues). These inefficiencies would increase costs, which would then be passed onto the customer, raising prices. It is very expensive to run a vehicle, most of the costs are in the last mile delivery leg, and therefore freight operators reported being highly incentivised to reduce empty running.
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