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Miljøoptimering af godstransportydelser inden for bygge-anlægssektoren Summary and conclusionsBackground and purpose Being the very first of its kind in Denmark, the project is initiated and financed by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency according to recommendations from the Conveyance of Goods Panel (appointed by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency). The consultative companies NIRAS and Nordisk Transport Udvikling (NTU / Nordic Transport Development) have elaborated the project. The purposes of the project are as follows:
The project work focuses on increasing the sectors’ capacity utilisation. Method The project activities have been
Transport registrations in connection with construction project The above-mentioned Boulevarden-project comprised renovation of a rather short road section, including rehabilitation of all supply pipes and cables and, finally, granite paving. Aalborg Municipality – the Construction Section and relevant supply sections - has been in charge of the project in co-operation with the selected contractors. The project sum totalled approx. 6 million DKK. Registration of individual events is mainly based on the drivers’ and – in particular – the charge hand’s filling in of forms regarding the transport events, supplemented by telephonic follow-ups as to suppliers’ delivery notes. Transport events related to the municipal storehouse are treated qualitatively and less detailed. Just under 1,600 transport events have been registered in connection with the project. The definition of a transport event has been "one trip outwards and one trip homewards". Both long distance trips and short trips are included. In fact all transport events in connection with the said project have been recorded. The major part of the transport events (96%) is local trips defined as a maximum distance of 20 km. Mainly lorries with 10-13 tonnes load capacity were used. Long distance transport events took place in connection with delivery of materials from external suppliers. Transports of sand/gravel bound for the construction place, Boulevarden, and transports of excavated materials, asphalt and concrete away from the construction place totalled approx. 40% of the transport events (outward or homeward trips). Conveyance of materials such as concrete (for casting), pavement stones, pipes/wells, materials from storage, contractors’ supplies and various trifles occupied approx. 20% of the transport events. The remaining part of the transport events did not carry goods at all. As to the total amount of transport events, the statistics are as follows: 40% does not carry goods at all. External suppliers performed only 76 of the approx. 1,600 transport events. 15 of the said 76 transport events concerned importation of goods where shipment formed part of the transportation method. Local trips total approx. 25,000 km. The 15 transport events related to import of goods amount to 10,000 km by lorry and approx. 90,000 km by ship. These relatively few transport events – among others including import of Chinese granite – thus total up to 35-55% of the total energy consumption related to transport events for the entire project. The realistic improvement potential regarding CO2 emission as to transport events for the entire construction project is assessed to 25-50% - and to 2-10% if import from China is left out of account. Assessment of alternatives to the import of Chinese granite should comprise a broad estimate of relations of production, life, maintenance and architectonical aspects. Transport registrations in connection with building project Registration of transport events in connection with extension and rebuilding of the Aalborg Airport has been accomplished. The Airport-project comprises a building, the size of which is approx. 5,000 square metres, including approx. 1,000 square metres at the first floor. Registrations were accomplished for stage 1 of the building project only, amounting to approx. two thirds of the project. The price for stage 1 totalled approx. 70 million DKK. Registrations were made partly by short interviews with the lorry drivers, partly by collecting delivery notes and making telephonic follow-ups towards suppliers and haulage contractors. Approx. 800 transport events were recorded. This amount is assessed to comprise the vast majority of the project’s total number of transport events. The events are distributed in categories as follows; 130 deliveries of concrete (for casting), approx. 150 events of large-scale deliveries of building components and materials, 390 deliveries related to installations and approx. 130 deliveries of painters’ materials, tools or the like. The number of deliveries for electricity, heating and sanitation is significantly high; on average 28 and 30 deliveries per month respectively. In general, the individual deliveries are very small. This conclusion falls in line with the conclusions emanating from the interview sessions: Frequently, wholesalers pay daily visits to building sites bringing along small-scale deliveries only. Such wholesaler deliveries very often come from a central storage, and after reload the driver distributes the materials to a number of customers, approx. 10-25 per route. Regarding the above-mentioned 150 large-scale deliveries, capacity utilisation regarding the outward trips is relatively high. 70% even reaches a utilisation degree of 80-100%. Furthermore, the large-scale deliveries are characterised by bringing along materials for other customers to a small extent only. The return trips, however, are often without freight, between 50-65%. Regarding the entire project, large-scale material deliveries contribute most significantly to CO2-emissions. However, also deliveries from abroad contribute significantly, whereas transport events concerning concrete and wholesalers’ deliveries and delivery van transports are on a relatively modest scale. On estimate the CO2 emission improvement potential will be 20-30% - and approx. 15% if long distance deliveries are left out of account. Below you will find some of the conclusions drawn from the case studies and from the interview sessions among the involved actors. The present situation It is a trend in connection with many turnkey building projects that many decisions are made as late as possible and that many drawings etc. are not elaborated until at an advanced project stage. Storage of materials at the building site is limited due to the risk of theft and damage, and therefore delivery is not wanted until the materials are actually needed. Of course such conditions encourage last minute orderings. As will appear from the above, short notice deliveries are in great demand (often day-to-day delivery). This fact implies that suppliers/haulage contractors arrange their transport events at short notice – both regarding appropriate route planning/co-ordination and exploitation of return freight capacity. Demands for exact hour and minute deliveries reduce the possibilities of best possible exploitation even further. In particular within the wholesale trade the regular practice is that building site deliveries are small-scale and of high frequentcy, often daily. Considerations of the building process are of course of utmost importance to contractors and builders, and normally the price for transportation is not rendered visible to the client. Moreover, transportation costs are not important compared to costs emanating from unoccupied personnel and contractors’ supplies at standstill due to lack of materials. Thus contractors and builders have no incentive to provide for environmentally friendly transportation when planning their activities. Very often wholesalers and – to some extent – suppliers offer, without charge, a very high level of service regarding transportation of materials. To the supplier the most important transportation incentive frequently is to render his client the best possible service. Therefore suppliers give priority to do business with permanently affiliated haulage contractors who are service-minded and with flexible time schedules. Haulage contractor business is characterised by keen competition, and suppliers hardly dare ask external haulage contractors to carry loads for clients for fear of being deprived of these clients. Such conditions limit the extent of exploitation of home freight potentials and carpool agreements. From this it follows that in fact the situation is at a deadlock because none of the involved parties have actual incentives for contemplating transport optimisation efforts. Potentials for improvement and ideas of optimisation Improved planning and earlier ordering of materials are spheres assessed to hold potentials for improvement. However, it is a must that contractors and builders get presented for incentives for improved planning, either in the form of demands made from the clients or in the form of increased profits. The majority of suppliers will be able to optimise their transport events by earlier receipt of orders because in case of early receipt it is possible for them to optimise their route planning and, possibly, adjust their transport arrangements. Another potential for improvement is current exchange of information among the involved parties regarding flexibility of time schedules as pressed time schedules are a substantial obstacle to optimised route planning. A third possibility is increased exploitation of home freight potentials, e.g. within the Jutland-area. Today suppliers’ haulage contractors somehow co-ordinate their transport events with deliveries to other customers, and somehow they co-operate with other haulage contractors (exchange of lorryloads). There seem to be a potential for increased capacity utilisation, however, through improved co-ordination/co-operation and current exchange of information on free capacity. Transportation of precast concrete units seems to offer good home freight potentials, also for transport of palletised goods. Merchandised materials - primarily electrical articles and, secondary, plumbing, heating and timber materials - offer improvement potentials in the form of increased co-ordination implying that the individual supplier could reduce his number of (at present often daily) deliveries to an actual building site. The potentials will thus be reduced delivery frequency and increased consolidation of the said transport events. As will appear from the above, the access to optimisation of the transport events can be considered from two angles. On the one hand improved planning in general/earlier placing/receipt of orders from contractors and builders; on the other hand increased joint efforts regarding exploitation of e.g. home freight potentials and consolidation of transport events. A joint effort combining these two angles would presumably yield the most favourable result. In general, the project has focused on ideas based on voluntary efforts that will prove either lucrative or neutral. Below some of the ideas focused upon are listed;
An external co-ordinating function could be mediator of free capacity as well as mediator of transportation demands in general. Overall communication should be based on up-to-date IT-solutions for speedy information flow among the involved parties.
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