Today, delivering goods in urban areas has become a real headache. Population explosion, urban concentration, road saturation, and traffic jams… For logisticians, working efficiently and under good conditions is not always easy.
Most urban deliveries occur during the day, which inevitably exacerbates congestion and results in significant inefficiencies for transportation professionals. In this context, stress and noise pollution disrupt both the work of logisticians and the peace of city dwellers. The environmental impact is also growing, as trucks are responsible for about 8% of CO2 emissions in France (source: Citepa). To improve the well-being of their residents, cities are seeking solutions to reduce these nuisances.
Among these solutions, night deliveries appear to be a promising option. This approach has already been implemented in several countries around the world, including France.
What is night delivery?
In response to the predominantly daytime urban challenges, some logisticians are drawn to the idea of delivering their goods during off-peak hours, from 10 PM to 7 AM. Typically, this time slot is divided into two periods:
- Late evening deliveries from 10 PM to 2 AM
- Early morning deliveries from 5 AM to 7 AM
The ideal is to avoid the middle of the night from 2 AM to 5 AM to ensure peace for residents. Currently, this type of delivery primarily involves deliveries to stores, cafes, hotels, and restaurants.
What does night delivery involve?
Night delivery entails a few measures to anticipate:
- Use of quiet equipment to reduce noise during delivery operations so as not to disturb residents. For example, equipping vehicles with electric tailgates, noise-absorbing lift gates, electric pallet jacks, etc.
- Train drivers, handlers, and receivers to work quietly (turn off the engine when the vehicle is stationary, optimize deliveries based on urban space, avoiding rolling carts over cobblestones, for instance).
- Invest in clean vehicles to reduce pollution in cities. Electric vehicles are also generally quieter.
- Manage the delivery of goods in secure drop-off points if no one is present on-site. For example, using a badge, the driver can drop off the goods in a secure area without needing to enter the store. Sometimes, adjustments to the premises may be required.
What are the benefits of night delivery?
Night delivery offers numerous advantages:
For residents:
- Invisible deliveries, less congestion on the streets
- Smoother traffic flow
- Increased pedestrian safety
- Reduced local pollution and greenhouse gas emissions
- Decreased noise pollution thanks to the use of quiet vehicles
For carriers:
- Easier access to city centers and delivery points
- Better route optimization and higher load efficiency
- Reduction in the number of vehicles used by 9% (source: PIEK study by SenterNovem)
- Decrease in delivery times by up to 50% as drivers spend less time in traffic and at each delivery point
- Easier parking for drivers
- Better adherence to delivery schedules
- Improved working conditions for delivery drivers
- Fuel savings due to reduced traffic
For cities:
- Reduced urban congestion
- Optimized road usage over time
- Improved air quality
- Enhanced road safety with fewer incidents
- Improved residents’ well-being
For stores, night delivery allows them to receive goods before opening, enabling them to stock shelves before the first customers arrive. During the day, their teams can focus on selling products.
A positive assessment for the silent night deliveries experiment in Paris
Between May and September 2021, a night delivery experiment was conducted in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. Many public and private stakeholders participated in this operation:
- The Déméter Club, an ecosystem of logistics actors aimed at developing sustainable logistics practices
- Certibruit, an association providing labels for silent night deliveries, responsible for acoustic measurements and identifying noise sources
- Bruitparif, a center for technical assessment of environmental sound, which equipped the sites with sound sensors
- The City of Paris and the 13th arrondissement municipality
- A panel of 162 points of sale (supermarkets, bookstores, cafés, hotels, and restaurants)
The experiment involved 635 weekly deliveries, with 30% occurring during night hours.
Results:
- Compared to daytime deliveries, night delivery tour times were shortened by one hour (5h35 versus 6h30).
- The average unloading time was reduced by 8 minutes (43 minutes versus 51 minutes).
- Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions decreased by an average of 8%.
- Urban congestion dropped by 18%.
These promising results are also observed in experiments in other cities. Night deliveries thus represent a viable solution for mitigating the negative externalities of urban logistics.