Abstract:
Last few years the hindrance, accidents, pollution and other negative side effects of construction projects
and namely construction transport have become an issue particularly in urban areas across Europe such
as in London, and in the Netherlands as well, including the cities of Utrecht, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
Municipalities have issued new legislation and stricter conditions for vehicles to be able to access cities
and city centres in particular and accessibility of older and polluting vehicles. Considerate clients, public
as well private, have started developing tender policies to encourage contractors to reduce the
environmental impact of construction projects. Contractors and third party logistics providers have started
applying consolidation centres. These developments have shown considerable reductions of number of
vehicles needed to deliver goods and to transport workers to site. In addition these developments have led
to increased transport efficiency, labour productivity and cost reductions on site as well as down the supply
chain. Besides these developments have led to increased innovations in the field of logistics planning
software, use of ICT , and handling hardware and equipment. This paper gives an overview of current
developments and applications in the field of construction logistics in the Netherlands, and in a few project
cases in particular. Those cases are underway as part of an ongoing applied research project and studied
by using an ethnographic participative action research approach. The case findings and project results
show initial advantages how the projects, the firms involved and the environment can profit from the
advancement of logistics management leading to reduced environmental impact and increased efficiencies of construction transport.
