Research** shows that 50% of construction transports arrive between 07:00-09:00 Monday to Thursday, which makes it is obvious there could be improvements by integrating planning of construction logistics into the overall city logistics planning.

How can ICT contribute?

In the MIMIC project the real-life impact on construction logistics on city traffic was evaluated. Key to that was real data collected from:

  • Mobile phones (anonymized indicating city traffic as a whole)
  • Fleet management systems to identify construction related traffic

This historical data can help create models that can be used to simulate scenarios, which is important input when planning logistics. Collected data is of course also needed to measure different KPIs and to compare actuals to the plan.

But could real-time data or remote steering create additional value?

Already today most heavy vehicles are equipped with fleet management solutions. If there are any delays in construction activities or goods reception availability, the vehicle can be notified to reduce speed and improve fuel economy.

Electrification is also an opportunity in construction logistics, but it poses challenges such as managing charging, as vehicle utilization is key. To successfully utilize electrification in this heavy vehicle context new ways of operating transport on construction projects must be implemented. You would need better coordination and planning to assure resource utilization, as fully charging still takes much longer than refueling. That could be enabled, though, by connected vehicles, as well as connected charging infrastructure. What if you could monitor and steer all onsite and delivery vehicle charging levels on an overall system level and optimize it? Perhaps it would be cost effective to charge instead of deliver during 07:00 – 09:00, when city traffic is at its peak? And of course charging solutions during usage, such as the one provided by Elonroad, could be part of the solution, especially for onsite vehicles.

In conclusion, urban areas will be under constant development and so will the ICT solutions to support construction logistics. I’m looking forward to also being part of the solution. If you would like to learn more about this solution or any other ways we can help with your IoT solution, please get in touch.

Linda Ekener Mägi
Business Development Manager
Tele2

* TRAFA 2020. https://www.trafa.se/
** The transport footprint of Swedish construction sites. Ahmet Anil Sezer and Anna Fredriksson 2020 IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci. 588 042001