Goods flows on the Seine
Urban supply chain training for the 2024 Olympic Games. OBD Grand Paris, a beverage distributor in the greater Paris region, is set to compete in some ‘disciplines’ in 2024, in order to deliver goods more sustainably in the French capital region. It wants to put in a top performance with its partners in the Olympic year.
OBD Grand Paris has around 4,000 articles in stock. The company, which calls itself “the largest independent beverage supplier in Paris and the Île-de-France region”, says it supplies “several thousand” customers every day.
Players in the out-of-home market and cafés, restaurants and hotels purchase soft drinks, juices, water, coffee, spirits, wine, beer and nibbles from OBD’s warehouses in Morangis and Villeneuve-la-Garenne.
A few weeks ago OBD started transporting its goods directly from the quays of the port of Gennevilliers to the port of Bercy. From there they were dispatched on the last mile by e-trucks. The test was financed by Voies navigables de France (VNF), the state-owned inland waterway authority, and carried out in cooperation with the urban shipping line Green Switch Meridian, with technical support from Haropa.
Multimodal metropolitan services
The project will allow OBD to test riverine delivery options, in anticipation of an air-pollution control system that the city of Paris is set to put in place in 2024.
The French capital wants to present itself on the world stage as a metropolis that sets a good example in terms of improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions – especially for 2024’s Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The ‘training equipment’ OBD used was an innovative swap body, open on three sides, with a payload of 7.5 t; the first DZE 16T electric truck sold by Renault Trucks in France; a special unit to transport swap bodies with running boards and a tailgate; as well as a mobile lifting system that can be operated on the quays of the conurbation’s public ports and handle heavy loads.
Less noise, congestion, accidents too
As a result of the combination of these transport modes the corporation has so far been able to save more than 80% of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to diesel-only road transport solutions. In addition, 95% fewer other negative impacts – including noise, congestion and accidents – were recorded.
One thing is already certain for the project partners. A riverine urban delivery solution for pallets weighing 1 t or more is feasible – also for other segments, such as e-commerce.