Comparative analysis of activities for more environmental friendly urban freight transport systems in Norway and Poland

Negative effects of urban distribution of goods in terms of energy consumption and air pollution are caused mainly by a low level of cooperation between partners in the supply chain, and also the low effectiveness of transport systems. The issues of urban freight transport functioning and effects on the city environment have recently been more and more often taken into account. Many projects on a local, regional, national as well as cross-boundary scale have emerged, with a direct focus on limiting the negative impacts of urban freight deliveries on the environment. In this paper the authors introduce a study performed for Polish and Norwegian cities focused on initiatives concentrated on activities aimed at limiting the negative impacts of freight transport on urban environment. A comparative analysis of the Polish and Norwegian projects was made, taking into account both quantitative and qualitative aspects. This was the first part of the GRASS (GReen And Sustainable freight transport Systems in cities) research project, which is being undertaken by the Maritime University of Szczecin and the Institute of Transport Economics from Oslo through the Polish-Norwegian Research Programme. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.