A qualitative investigation

of urban freight delivery in

Aotearoa New Zealand

Debbie Hopkins¹ ² & Alaric McCarthy²

¹ Transport Studies Unit, University of Oxford, UK

² Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago, NZ

FREIGHT BY MODEFreight by Mode 2012: Tonnes

Rail

Coastal shipping

Road

Freight by Mode 2012: Tonne KMs

Rail

Coastal shipping

Road

TRANSPORT CO₂ EMISSIONS

Domestic Transport Emissions by Mode (kt CO₂-e). Source: MBIE, 2014

“Freight emissions have been growing faster

than passenger emissions for some time and the

trend is expected to continue” (OECD, 2007)

RESPONDING TO FREIGHT EMISSIONS

Source: NZRS, 2016

But how realistic are

these options for the

freight industry?

METHOD & APPROACHUrban freight delivery in Aotearoa New Zealand

INTERVIEWS

ENERGY CULTURES FRAMEWORK

QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWSUrban freight delivery in Aotearoa New Zealand

SHOPPING PRACTICES & HOME DELIVERY

“If you go into the shop the courier will deliver the

product [to the shop] and he may deliver 60 items in

one box, so that’s 60 transfers of that product for that

person walking into a shop to buy. Only one courier

may have had 60 movements. When those 60

people buy online, that’s 60 movements. So the

courier companies quite like online shopping”

Nicolas, Regional Manager, Wellington

SHOPPING PRACTICES & HOME DELIVERY

“I don’t like those people… the online people,

because they make your life hell. You go on

one here, one there. So you make over 100

deliveries. With business freight that may

only take you an hour or so… but with

residential it takes three hours to do in the

afternoon”

Sebastian, Owner-Operator Driver, Dunedin

SPEED & EXPECTATIONS

“I think people’s expectations have

probably changed as well. People want

things now. We are a very ‘now’ society: ‘I

ordered it two days ago and it said it would

be here in two days and it is not here’”

Dominic, Salaried Driver, Dunedin

SPEED & RAIL

“Years ago rail freight was the exact way to go... It’s a greener way of moving freight, it’s a more efficient way of moving freight, it’s just not a very timely way of moving freight and with the demands of our customers saying that ‘yes, we’ll have it overnight to you’”

Paul, Branch Manager, Wellington

THE FUTURE OF RAIL

“I’m not quite sure what’s going to happen in

the future to be honest, but I suppose road

vehicles will become a thing of the past. In

years going down the track a lot of it will be

railed hence the reason why we’ve bought

buildings here with rail lines out the back,

we can jump into rail when we want”

John, Branch Manager, Tauranga

EFFICIENCIES: COOPERATION

“I think we probably need to be working a

lot closer together… for example: the trucks

that come south are generally pretty full, the

trucks that go north half of them will be empty.

So, is there some way that we as transport

operators can share some of those services

going back?”

Tom, Regional Manager, Dunedin

INVESTING IN NEW TECHNOLOGIES

“If you’re going to put more food on your

table or earn more money or you’re going to

drive to save the environment, I know which

one is going to win out every time… if

somebody could come up with a good vehicle

hybrid situation and the performance would be

where they are, I think that’s the way to go”

Iain, Branch Manager, Auckland

CONCLUDING THOUGHTSUrban freight delivery in Aotearoa New Zealand

CULTURES OF URBAN FREIGHT

Financial constraint

Changing demands

Relatively adaptable

Rising entry costs

Problems with employee

retention

Increased pressure

Conflict with road users

Demands conflicting with

business models

ARE LOW-CARBON OPTIONS

VIABLE FOR FREIGHT?

• Freight will be central to a low-

carbon transition

• The freight industry needs to be

engaged in a meaningful way to

explore low carbon technological

and behavioural options

• Evidence of industry adaptability

may aid uptake

• However, wide-ranging current

stressors might prevent uptake if

not financially neutral.

Hopkins, D. & McCarthy, A. (2016). Change

trends in urban freight delivery: A

qualitative inquiry, Geoforum, 74, p.158-170

Main funder: Co-funders:

Debbie.Hopkins@ouce.ox.ac.uk