The Logistics Division under the aegis of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry has unveiled its plan for Freight Smart Cities to improve the efficiency of urban freight and create an opportunity for the reduction in logistics costs.
On this occasion, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Hardeep Singh Puri launched a website on 'Freight Smart Cities' and also released a handbook outlining 14 measures that can be taken to improve urban freight.
The initiative has been taken into consideration as the demand for urban freight is expected to grow by 140% over the next 10 years. Furthermore, the e-commerce market is expected to grow by Rs. 11 lakh crores by 2022.
Key Highlights:
1- Initially, ten cities will be identified by the State Governments to be developed as Freight Smart Cities.
2- Under the Freight Smart Cities initiative, city-level logistics committees would be formed, having members from the government departments and agencies at the local and state levels and private sectors.
3- The committees will co-create City Logistics Plans like developing peri-urban freight centres, night-time deliveries, developing truck routes, promoting electrification of urban freight, parcel delivery terminals among others.
4- On the Freight Smart City initiatives, the Logistics Division is working closely with GIZ (Germany) under Indo-German Development Cooperation, Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and RMI India.
5- The initiative will subsequently be expanded to 75 cities in the next phase before scaling up pan India. This will include all the state capitals and cities having more than one million population.
6- The handbook mentions 14 key measures into 4 categories-- vehicle use optimization, infrastructure development, demand and land use planning, and technology adoption.
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Freight and its movement
Freight means goods or cargo which may be carried or transported by a ship, train, truck or aeroplane.
With growing urbanisation, requirements of rapid economic growth including e-commerce and associated first and last-mile freight movements, increasing congestion, noise and sound pollution in the Indian cities is a menace affecting both public health and local economies.
The Logistics Division has decided to work in a planned way to improve the city freight movement, thereby giving birth to Freight Smart Cities.
Freight Smart Cities Handbook
1- Vehicle use optimisation: It refers to optimising trip distance and the number of trips made by freight vehicles in the city and suggests measures like shifting truck traffic to off-peak hours during the night, developing separate truck routes for truck operation and picking up returned goods to avoid empty running under the reverse logistics concept.
2- Infrastructure development: Infrastructure development for inventory management and transportation planning is expected to control the emissions associated with freight movements. Development of urban consolidation centres, urban logistics spaces and hotels, logistics development and logistics parks and parcel delivery terminals have been suggested under this.
3- Demand and land use planning: It focuses on planning the rising demand of freight in cities to reduce peak hour traffic, promote sustainable practices and more. Measures such as industrial planning, bypasses and ring roads planning (building routes for heavy transport), modal shift planning (shifting transportation modes from roads to rail or waterways), parking and unloading zones (allocating spaces for freight use), and creation of low-emission zones have been suggested.
4- Technology adoption: It refers to digitalizing transportation and inventory management by making use of intelligent transportation systems and promoting electrification of urban freight.
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Need for Freight Smart Cities Initiative
Final-mile freight movement in Indian cities is currently responsible for 50% of total logistics costs in India’s growing e-commerce supply chains.
Improving city logistics would also enable efficient freight movement and bring down the logistics costs, thereby boosting all sectors of the Indian economy.
Moreover, the existing urban freight system has several drawbacks. For instance, 10% of the country's freight-related CO2 emissions are due to urban freight. Also, the current system is responsible for 10% of the road fatalities in cities and traffic congestion.
Problems associated with Urban Transportation in India
1- Insufficient road infrastructure: Due to an increase in urban population, the number of vehicles has reached a level where the road infrastructure is unable to meet the demand of commuters.
2- Congestion on roads: Unplanned and faulty designing of buildings have caused problems with parking space, causing roadside congestion.
3- Pollution: According to CPCB(Central Pollution Control board), around 180 Indian cities face severe pollution concentrations. It is to be noted that air pollution is the fifth leading cause of death in Indian cities.
4- Legislation: At present, there is no comprehensive central or state legislation covering the urban transport requirements of Indian cities.
5- Skilled personalities: There is a lack of skilled personalities in urban transport management.
Benefits of Freight Smart Cities initiative
1- It helps in increasing the efficiency of the economy and productivity. It also helps in reducing traffic delays.
2- It also plays an important role in the reduction of poverty, provides better access to the labour market, thereby increasing the income of the poor.
3- With the help of technologies, existing infrastructure can be optimized focusing on operational outcomes and customer experience.
In a nutshell, the Freight Smart Cities initiative will not only address the above-mentioned problems but also meet the increased demands in future, create job opportunities, enhance economic competitiveness, reduce environmental impacts and logistics-related costs.
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