Capacity Building Workshop Weighs Sustainable Urban Freight Management

ICLEI South Asia held a two-day capacity building workshop on sustainable urban freight management in Kochi on 7th and 8th June 2019.

The Kochi Municipal Corporation was the co-host, while the Kochi Metro Rail Limited was the technical partner of the event, which was organised as part of the “EcoLogistics — Low Carbon Freight for Sustainable Cities” project.

More than 175 stakeholders such as government officials and representatives of central and state government agencies, private stakeholders, freight lorry associations and trade, industry and research organisations, attended the workshop.

National and international freight experts presented sector-specific learnings and strategies, as well as good practices from developed and developing countries at the workshop. Besides technical presentations, there was brainstorming on sustainable urban freight management strategies in Kochi and on the way forward under the EcoLogistics project.

Ashish Rao Ghorpade, Deputy Director, ICLEI SA, explained the focus of the capacity-building workshop to the participants, saying that the project was the first-of-its-kind global initiative. It aims to prioritise strategies that promote goods transportation with minimal impacts on air quality, noise, health and fatalities and injuries, besides reducing traffic congestion and GHG emissions.

Mr. Ghorpade said the project was being implemented in Kochi, Shimla and Panaji. ICLEI SA is assisting these cities in developing Low Carbon Action Plans for Urban Freight, supporting the implementation of demonstration projects, and in suggesting national policy recommendations for the urban freight sector.

The project is being supported by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, and Nuclear Safety (BMU) through the International Climate Initiative (IKI) programme.

Smt. Soumini Jain, Mayor, Kochi, in her welcome speech emphasised the importance of freight management and its role in the sustainable development of Kochi city. She said Kochi needed a better, more organised freight transportation system in view of its urban growth. She stressed on the importance of the EcoLogistics project as the city needed a roadmap to aggressively promote the use of non-motorised transport, and improve the last-mile connectivity for goods transport.

There were technical presentations on sustainable urban freight management on day one of the workshop. These were made by Tsu-Jul Cheng, Program Manager, Ecomobility, ICLEI; Dr. Gitakrishnan Ramadurai, Associate Professor, IIT Madras; K.V. Mahidhar, Executive Director, CII Institute of Logistics, Delhi; Ian Wainwright, Director, Future City Logistics, London; Camilo Urbano, Head, Urban Planning and Data Research, Despacio, Bogota, Colombia; Beatriz Royo, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, MIT-Zaragoza International Logistics Programme, Zaragoza, Spain; Dr. Teresa de la Cruz, Project Manager, Zaragoza Logistics Center; and Himanshu Raj, Officer, EcoMobility, ICLEI.

There were capacity building activities too, in which the participants were divided into groups of nine to 10 people to brainstorm on sustainable and feasible strategies for urban freight management in Kochi. Predefined parameters, such as technical, policy, regulatory and financial parameters, besides infrastructure were kept in mind. Some of the priority strategies identified were: formulation of a state-level sustainable urban freight policy; rejuvenation of inland waterways for freight transport; development of adequate infrastructure for freight vehicles; urban consolidation centres to decongest markets; a multimodal logistics hub for Kochi port; and inclusion of urban freight in the Master Plan.

On day two of the workshop, an Eco-Driving training programme was organised in partnership with the Petroleum Conservation Research Association (PCRA), Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India and the Kerala Institute of Labour and Employment (KILE), Government of Kerala. More than 50 drivers of freight vehicles were provided hands-on training to promote behavioral change in driving practices, fuel efficiency and road safety. The drivers were asked to drive goods vehicles on selected routes as per their usual methods. Their performances before and after the Eco-Driving training were compared, and it was found that the drivers had improved their fuel efficiency by up to 20%. Based on the outcome, KILE is planning to launch the training on a larger scale and on a regular basis.

ICLEI WORLD SECRETARIAT
Kaiser-Friedrich-Str. 7
53113 Bonn
Germany
T: +49-228/97 62 99-00
F.+49-228/97 62 99-01 Email: iclei.org
EUROPE
European Secretariat
Leopoldring 3
79098 Freiburg, Germany
www.iclei-europe.org
Brussels Office
Av. de Tervuren 35
1040 Bruxelles
Belgium
Berlin Office
St. Oberholz ROS Team Room 4.02 Rosenthaler Str. 72a 10119 Berlin, Germany
AFRICA SECRETARIAT
Physical address:
3 Knowledge Park
Century City
Cape Town
8001
South Africa
Postal address:
PO Box 5319
Tygervalley
7536
South Africa
www.iclei.org/africa
NORTH AMERICA
Canada Office
401 Richmond St. W
Studio 204
Toronto, Ontario
M5V 3A8, Canada
www.iclei.org/canada
USA Office
536 Wynkoop St.
Suite 901
Denver, Colorado
USA 80202
www.icleiusa.org
MEXICO, CENTRAL AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Mexico, Central American and Caribbean Secretariat
Eje Central Lazaro Cardenas 13 Building Miguel Abed, Floor 5 Office 506 and 507, Col. Centro, CP 06050 Del. Cuauhtemoc, Mexico City, Mexico
www.iclei.org.mx
Colombia Office
Área Metropolitana del Valle de Aburrá Carrera 53 N° 40A - 31 Medellín, Antioquia – Colombia
ICLEI Argentina
Boulevard Gálvez, 1150 Planta Alta. Santa Fe, Argentina
SOUTH AMERICA
South America Secretariat Brazil Project Office
Rua Ibiraçu, 226, Vila Madalena
São Paulo / SP - Brazil
CEP 05451-040
www.iclei.org.mx
SOUTH ASIA
South Asia Secretariat
Ground Floor, NSIC-STP Complex NSIC Bhawan, Okhla Industrial Estate New Delhi – 110020, India
southasia.iclei.org
EAST ASIA
East Asia Secretariat
14/F, Seoul Global Center Building, 38 Jongno, Jongno-gu, Seoul, South Korea (110-110)
eastasia.iclei.org
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Southeast Asia Secretariat
c/o The Manila Observatory Ateneo de Manila University Campus Loyola Heights, Quezon City 1101 Manila, Philippines
seas.iclei.org
ICLEI Indonesia Project Office
Rasuna Office Park III WO. 06-09 Komplek Rasuna Epicentrum Jl. Taman Rasuna Selatan, Kuningan DKI Jakarta, 12960, Indonesia
OCEANIA
Oceania Secretariat
Level 1, 200 Little Collins Street Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia
icleioceania.org
Advocacy
Training
Consultancy
Research
Associate Partnership
Associate Partnership
Associate Partnership
Associate Partnership
Associate Partnership
ICLEI membership application
ICLEI membership application
ICLEI membership application
ICLEI membership application
ICLEI membership application
Want to be a model?
Want to be a model?
Want to be a model?
Want to be a model?
Want to be a model?
ICLEI membership online application form
ICLEI membership online application form
ICLEI membership online application form
ICLEI membership online application form
ICLEI membership online application form