Delivery vans stopping everywhere, waiting trucks, and more and more traffic in the city. Will the continuing growth of online commerce lead to congestion in cities? MRU, a consulting firm specializing in the courier, express, and parcel logistics industry, did research on behalf of the German E-Commerce and Mail Order Association (Bundesverbandes E-Commerce und Versandhandel Deutschland e.V.).
Despite the considerable growth in online sales, the delivery of parcels has not led to a traffic collapse in Germany’s major cities. On the one hand, the increase in the volume of parcels has been significantly lower in percentage terms than the increase in order revenues. The volume growth in online retailing with private end customers, in combination with the substantially stronger growth in B2B parcel deliveries, has not led to a severe increase in the number of delivery trips by parcel companies compared with all other traffic movements in the cities. Last but not least, more and more orders are also being delivered to customers outside the metropolitan areas, to the surrounding rural areas, or to smaller towns.
Delivery vans per square kilometer
In 2019, Munich was in first place with 4,9 (2018: 4,5) parcel delivery trips per day and square kilometers. Frankfurt and Düsseldorf follow with 3,8 and 3,3 weekly trips per square kilometer, respectively. At 2,9 and 2,2 (2018: 2.1), Berlin and Hamburg have a significantly lower density of parcel delivery trips per day and square kilometers. Overall, the B2C share of parcel delivery traffic in the trips per square kilometer and day in the cities studied is around two-thirds.
Using the city of Hamburg as an example, MRU calculated the changes in shipment volumes and the resulting traffic volume. For all commercial and private deliveries, delivery traffic increased from 2,1 to 2,2 departures per square kilometer.
However, this is a much smaller than the deliveries caused by stationary retail trade or HoReCa. In 2018, these already caused 28 departures per square kilometer on weekdays. Car traffic is the most essential part of congestion in German cities.
Urban planning
There is still a lack of comprehensive solutions and the consideration of logistical requirements in urban planning. Horst Manner-Romberg, Managing Director of MRU GmbH: “This ranges from the lack of delivery and loading zones, the failure to designate areas for micro-hubs, among other things, to the failure to take regulatory measures, such as setting up time windows for distribution. All this, however, requires an active commitment from local authorities. And unfortunately, this is often lacking in our country”.
Source: BEVH