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Challenges	in	Urban	Logistics:	A	Research
Study	in	São	João	Del	Rei,	a	Historical	Brazilian
City
Conference	Paper	·	January	2018
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Geographic	Information,	Sustainability	and	Simulation	Applied	to	Logistic	and	Transportation
Planning	View	project
Freight	study	at	Aburra	Valley	Metropolitan	Area	View	project
Roberta	Alves
Federal	University	of	São	João	del-Rei
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Renato	Lima
Universidade	Federal	de	Itajubá	(UNIFEI)
48	PUBLICATIONS			89	CITATIONS			
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Carlos	A.	Gonzalez-Calderon
National	University	of	Colombia	at	Medellin
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Challenges in Urban Logistics: A Research Study in São João Del Rei, a 
Historical Brazilian City 
 
Authors: 
 
Roberta Alves 
Affiliation: Federal University of São João Del Rei (UFSJ), Mechanical Engineering 
Department (DEMEC) 
Praça Frei Orlando, 170 - Centro 
São João Del Rei, MG, Brazil 36307-060 
Phone: +55 32-3379-2595 
robertaalves@ufsj.edu.br 
 
Renato da Silva Lima (Corresponding Author) 
Affiliation: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), 
Center for Infrastructure, Transportation, and the Environment 
110 8th Street Troy, NY 12180 USA 
Phone: +55 35-3629-1296 
Fax: +55 35-3629-1118 
rslima@unifei.edu.br 
 
Kaique Silva 
Affiliation: Federal University of Itajuba (UNIFEI), Industrial Engineering and Management 
Institute (IEPG) 
Ave. BPS 1303 – Pinheirinho 
Itajuba, MG, Brazil 37500-903 
Phone: +55 35-3629-1296 
Fax: +55 35-3629-1118 
osoriokaique@gmail.com 
 
William Gomes 
Affiliation: Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Minas Gerais (IFMG), 
Ave. Michel Pereira de Souza, 3007 - Campinho 
Congonhas, MG, Brazil 36415-000 
Phone: +55 31-3731-8100 
Fax: +55 31-3731-8101 
williamgomesm@yahoo.com.br 
 
Carlos A. González-Calderón, Ph.D. 
Affiliation: Universidad Nacional de Colombia at Medellin - Department of Civil 
Enginnering 
Cl. 65 #78-28. M1-110 Medellin, Colombia 
Phone:+57(4)4255207 
Fax: +57(4)4255152 
cagonza0@unal.edu.co 
 
Word count: 5,386 words text + 8 tables/figures x 250 words (each) = 7,386 words 
Submission Date: August 1, 2017 
 
Alves, Lima, Osório, Gomes, Calderón 2 
 
Challenges in Urban Logistics: A Research Study in São João Del Rei, a 
Historical Brazilian City 
 
Abstract: 
 
This study aims to diagnose and characterize the transportation of urban goods from multiple 
retail stores in the Brazilian municipality São João Del Rei, in the state of Minas Gerais. The 
study was carried out in the downtown portion of the city, which depends on a wide range of 
companies to provide employment, products and services for a large portion of the city’s 
population, along with neighboring cities. As a historical heritage city, the traditional city 
streets were planned long ago, during a time in which modern transportation vehicles and 
services were practically nonexistent. These factors make commerce in the downtown region 
a particular challenge for the urban organism. To better understand this scenario and indicate 
measurements to improve the functioning of the urban transportation network, 152 companies 
were interviewed about the main implicit variables in their goods receiving processes, along 
with information regarding cargo and vehicle types, trips and infrastructure. Any measuretaken 
to mitigate these problems must obligatorily consider the historic nature of the city and 
establish coherence between the conflicting objectives of the diverse actors which make up the 
urban environment. The results show the need for the creation of new policies for urban 
logistics, including areas reserved for loading and unloading of cargo and goods, along with 
better monitoring by authorities, in order to guarantee that the law is being abide. 
 
Keywords: Urban Logistics, Freight Transportation, Historic Heritage City. 
 
Alves, Lima, Osório, Gomes, Calderón 3 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
Growing concern related to climactic changes caused by human activity has created enormous 
pressure and interest in developing sustainable transportation systems. According to Holguín-
Veras et al.(1), the emphasis placed on transportation emissions is due to its large energetic 
consumption and generation of greenhouse gases, especially when referring to product and 
merchandise transportation in urban areas. 
As the number of cars continues to grow, negative consequences also increase, such as 
noise generation, vibration, accidents and air pollution(2). According to the Greenhouse Gas 
Emission Estimation (SEEG) in Brazil, transportation emission grows 5.6% per year on 
average, reaching 204.3 million tons for CO2 in 2015; 51% of these emissions are caused by 
cargo-hauling transportation(3). 
Despite the fact these vehicles contribute significantly to roadway congestion and CO2 
emissions, they play an essential part in urban economies by delivering goods to commercial 
establishments, which meet consumption demands of the population. Planning and 
implementation of actions and policies which aim to balance the needs for goods with 
environmental concerns has been ever more identified as a fundamental dilemma in modern 
cities, considering the continuous growth in delivery vehicles(4) 
Models and policies have been developed in order to mitigate the problems caused by 
cargo transportation, such as congestion, lack of mobility, sound and environmental pollution, 
and specifically greenhouse gas emission (GHE)(4–6). While of great importance, urban goods 
transportation has received limited attention within city planning, which typically focuses more 
on passenger transportation. Compounding the issue, there is not much information available 
when conducting research on urban cargo transportation(7, 8) .According to Taniguchi, 
Thompson and Yamada(6), to carry out any City Logistics study, one must obtain a series of 
data and information which includes vehicle capacity, routes, volumes and types of goods, 
among other data. Thus, the main objective of this study is to diagnose and characterize urban 
transportation related to supply chains and businesses, utilizing the municipality of Sao Joao 
Del Rei, MG, Brazil as an object of study, and indicate methods which may improve this 
process. 
 
IMPACTS OF URBAN CARGO TRANSPORTATION 
 
In recent years, Brazilian cities have demonstrated classic problems related to urban mobility. 
This is due to the elevated degree of urbanization of its cities and a lack of effective policies 
for urban development, which seek to integrate different modes of transportation, improving 
accessibility and mobility for people and goods. According to IBGE (Brazilian Institute of 
Geography and Statistics), 84.4% of the Brazilian population lives in urban areas; specifically 
in the southeastern region, the number jumps to 92.9%(9). This scenario has brought about a 
saturation of its transportation system limits, which impacts the standards for personal and 
goods transportation(5). 
Aiming to meet the demands of urban mobility, in 2012 the federal government 
instituted Law No. 12.587 on January 3rd, denominated as the National Urban Mobility Policy 
(10). This new instrument establishes that all municipalities which are required to have 
management plans must also elaborate the Urban Mobility Plan in order to plan and build 
towards city growth in an organized fashion. However, in 2015, three years after having 
approved the law, more than 70% of the capital cities and other Brazilian cities above 500 
thousand inhabitants, and 95% of the municipalities above 50 thousand, have not been able to 
finish it (11). 
Despite the great importance which urban cargo transportation plays on the overall 
scenario, it is rarely included in urban mobility plans, which tend to focus solely on passenger 
Alves, Lima, Osório, Gomes, Calderón 4 
 
transportation, leaving out one of the main problems seen in cities today: urban cargo 
transportation. There is a consensus that only recently this topic has come to be studied, and 
research studies on this topic are still in initial phases, mainly in developing countries, which 
makes measurement and solution proposals all the more difficult (5, 7, 12) 
However, Crainic et al. (13) even in the early 2000s highlighted that this scenario would 
tend to change as a result of the speed at which the number of vehicles has increased; this 
consequently adds to congestion and pollution levels growing at an accelerated rate. Greater 
awareness on behalf of the population can be seen in regards to topics which impact overall 
quality of life in urban areas, causing greater demands to be placed on authorities, which 
initiates a favorable move in the direction of solving these issues(14). The increasing priority 
given to these environmental and social questions in the last few decades adds a new dimension 
to problems related to traffic expansion and urban centers (15). 
Urban transportation performance is the responsibility of both public and private 
institutions(5). In summary, two conflicting interests can be seen, both being driven by the need 
to satisfy key customers: there are public authorities who aim to reduce the impacts of 
transportation while focusing on social and environmental sustainability, with the goal of 
making the city more attractive for its inhabitants and visitors; and private enterprises whose 
goal it is to deliver goods and merchandise at a low cost and offer high-quality transportation 
in the shortest amount of time possible, in order to meet and exceed their clients’ expectations. 
In this sense, their interests are geared toward economic sustainability. 
Lindholm and Behrends (7) cite that there is an awareness from distribution and 
logistics companies about the growing problems which cargo transport generates for urban 
areas on a day-to-day basis and also in the long-term. However, there has not been a solid 
integration of efforts between these establishments with urban authorities to discuss and 
develop concrete actions for resolving problems. Local public power, in general, views urban 
cargo transport as a business-related problem and is not seen as a general urban mobility issue 
to be planned and managed. Sanches Junior (16) concluded that public administrators recognize 
inherent cargo logistics problems without taking action to understand the demands of the sector 
and define suitable technical solutions. Allen et al. (12) also identified this impasse, stating that 
on one side, local authorities expect businesses to create new logistical services and, on the 
other hand, companies and logistics operators wait for municipal governments to take initiative 
to resolve urban transportation problems. 
Given the diversity of aspects and actors involved in urban cargo transportation, city 
logistics incentivizes integration and collaboration between all stakeholders in order to enable 
more precise approaches about the theme in the context of urban area planning and 
management (17). According to Correa et al. (14) it will be necessary to amplify public 
authorities understanding and initiative regarding urban cargo transportation, making cityadministrations deal with this topic in situations which go beyond reactive responses to demand 
and societal pressure. 
A variety of measures for solving urban cargo transportation problems already exist in 
the literature(5, 18),each one suited for the context of its socioeconomic, political and historic 
contexts. That is, each city has its own set of characteristics which define peculiarities for cargo 
transportation. Just as the transport system is unique for each city, the measures taken to 
regularize, correct and improve the system are also unique and specific for each city(16). 
According to Odette van de et al (19), the main error in implementing these measures 
to better manage the transportation system lies in its characterization, which starts by obtaining 
and analyzing data related to transport(18, 20). As previously cited, good transportation is the 
result of a series of choices from decision-makers (loaders, transporters, retailers, authorities 
and the population in general), and each one corresponds to a portion of the data; this many 
times limits the data collection, as it deals with disperse (and many times confidential) data, 
restricting analysis. Thus, this study aims to characterize and present a diagnosis of the current 
Alves, Lima, Osório, Gomes, Calderón 5 
 
situation found for goods movement in the central-region of the state of Minas Gerais, Sao Joao 
Del Rei, while also taking into account the historic aspect of the city’s infrastructure and 
construction, which gives the municipality distinctive transit. 
 
METHODOLOGY 
 
The present study was carried out in the municipality Sao Joao Del Rei, Minas Gerais. The 
current population is 89,832; it covers 1,452,002 km2, which is mostly made up of historically-
preserved and protected districts (9), and according to (21), the city has 49,899 motorized 
vehicles, equivalent of almost one vehicle for every two people. 
In order to summarize urban transport in the studied city, an area was chosen to do the 
research. According to Kijewska and Iwan (8), urban centers present the greatest challenges 
to goods distribution, mainly due to the agglomeration of business which provide jobs, products 
and services for the city’s population in general. 
In Sao Joao Del Rei, an additional difficulty is related to the historic designation of 
many of the city’s districts, which were planned in periods in which the demand for 
transportation services was practically inexistent. All of this makes supplying goods in this 
region a peculiar challenge for the smooth functioning of the total urban organism, involving a 
significant number of hurdles associated to traffic restrictions. For example, in zones protecting 
historic buildings; linear infrastructure not adapted to the growing number of vehicles (mainly 
narrow streets and unidirectional traffic organization); and a lack of sufficient parking. 
For these reasons, the selected area for this study coincides with Kijewska and Iwan 
(8). The area encompasses a significant number of retail companies, hotels, supermarkets, 
services, schools, universities and other public services. 
 
DATA COLLECTION 
 
With the study area selected, the next step was to define what the sample size would have to 
be in order to statistically validate the study this number was defined according to the 
methodology proposed by Gil (22). The study encompassed 202 total businesses of which 76% 
(152) responded to the interview; 24% (50) could not or did not wish to take part. The number 
exceeds the sample size verification by 33 survey, utilizing a confidence level of 95%. It is 
worth highlighting that the number interviewed represents 31% of the commercial points in the 
total studied region. 
To carry out the data analysis, businesses were classified in sectors according to the 
products they sell (Table 1). Figure 1 shows the geographical location of the interviewed 
companies. All companies are located in the historical center of the city. 
 
TABLE 1 – Business Classification 
 
Classification Sector Quantity % 
A Food industry (supermarket, restaurants, diners and 
bares) 47 31% 
B Electronics and technology 6 4% 
C Pharmacies and Drug Stores 9 6% 
D Agricultural and Civil Construction Products 10 7% 
E Furniture/Decoration/Home Appliances 13 9% 
F Clothing, Footwear, Bed and Bath 54 36% 
G Miscellaneous (Optical, packaging, presents, office 
supplies, jewelry) 13 9% 
 Total 152 100% 
 
Alves, Lima, Osório, Gomes, Calderón 6 
 
 
 
FIGURE 1 – Location of interviewed companies 
 
The National Cooperative Freight Research Program (NCFRP) survey (18) was used as 
reference to orient the studies about urban goods transport. This guide highlights the 
importance of carrying out studies to obtain detailed information about cargo transportation, 
given that, according to the authors, it is only possible to precisely evaluate these urban 
transport problems and propose solutions in such a way. 
 
CHARACTERIZATION OF GOODS DELIVERIES 
 
Table 2 presents the interviewed business’ classification according to their size and the 
information available related to the number of employees and monthly deliveries. It can be 
seen that the majority of businesses in the studied region (95%) are small- to medium-sized 
and responsible for generating the largest number of jobs (86%). However, large companies 
receive the largest number of monthly deliveries per employee. 
 
TABLE 2- Classification of companies by deliveries and employees 
 
Size 
Number of 
Employees 
Number of 
Deliveries 
Deliveries/ 
Employee 
Number of 
Businesses 
Small 298 2168 7.3 104 
Medium 278 1385 5 40 
Medium-Large 87 227 2.6 5 
Large 23 2812 12.2 3 
 
Understanding the volume and characteristics of the trips carried out by the population 
in their daily activities, along with the movement of cargo in a determined region, represent 
some of the most important information for transportation network planning, given that this 
serves as input for planning and optimization of the transport network and helps to prevent 
unnecessary trips and necessities (20). To complement this characterization, Table 3 shows the 
classification of the companies according to their size and sector. The largest companies 
(medium-large and large) are from the food, clothing, footwear and civil construction 
industries. 
 
Alves, Lima, Osório, Gomes, Calderón 7 
 
TABLE 3 – Classification of businesses according to their size and sector 
 
 A B C D E F G Total 
Small 21,7% 3,3% 4,6% 2,6% 5,2% 24,3% 6,6% 68,3% 
Medium 7,2% 0,7% 1,3% 3,2% 2% 10,5% 1,3% 26,2% 
Medium-Large 0,7% 0% 0% 0,7% 0,7% 0,7% 0,7% 3,5% 
Large 1,3% 0% 0% 0% 0,7% 0% 0% 2 
 
Products are delivered largely by more than one type of vehicle. For the 152 interviewed 
companies, the most frequently used vehicles are Pickups and Urban Cargo Vehicles (UCV), 
which represent 66% and 65% of all deliveries respectively. Larger vehicles represent 45%. 
58% are supplied by other types, such as motorcycles. It is worth highlighting that the 
percentages sum up to more than 100% because the companies could opt for more than one 
type of vehicle for each delivery. 
Decree No. 2.693, from May 29, 2001, prohibits the transit of heavy vehicles (delivery 
trucks, semi-trucks and buses) in the downtown area where the points Cadeia and Rosário are 
located, which are the main access points for the historic center, have been diagnosed with 
structural problems (23) . However, it can be verified that, according to the interviewees, this 
law is not being followed due to the lack of professionals who could guarantee this law is being 
abide by. This situation results in multiple problems, both in terms of transportation network 
infrastructure to overalltraffic flow, aside from the parking spaces they occupy, which makes 
circulation all the more difficult. Table 4 presents the frequency of deliveries per sector. 
 
TABLE 4 – Delivery Frequency 
 
 Daily Weekly Bi-Weekly Monthly Total 
A 29% 36% 2% 1% 68% 
B 2% 5% 1% 0% 8% 
C 6% 3% 0% 1% 10% 
D 1% 9% 3% 0% 13% 
E 3% 9% 1% 1% 14% 
F 5% 30% 17% 2% 54% 
G 2% 9% 3% 1% 15% 
Total 48% 101% 27% 6% 
 
It can be seen that the largest part of deliveries occur daily and weekly, resulting in a 
great number of vehicles circulating throughout the region. This volume of goods and 
merchandise shipments is linked to the methods currently adopted by businesses, based on Just 
In Time systems which work with reduced stock and inventory. This system benefits 
companies with low losses and significant productivity, but at the same time presents a 
disadvantage to the city as it substantially influences a jump in the number of cargo vehicles in 
urban areas (17). 
On average, businesses from the B Sector (Electronics and Technology), E Sector 
(Furniture/Decoration/Home Appliances) and the F Sector (Clothing, footwear, bed and bath) 
receive 1 delivery per day; companies from the C sector (Pharmacy and Drug Stores), D Sector 
(agriculture and Construction Material) and G Sector (Miscellaneous) receive 3 deliveries per 
day. The products received are in large part from the same states, Minas Gerais (58%), São 
Paulo (28%), Rio de Janeiro (5%), southern states (6%), other countries (2%) and other 
Brazilian states (1%). 
In Minas Gerais, most cargo comes from the same city and region, due to rural and 
regional producers who commercialize their products there. However, there are cargo vehicles 
which also depart for other cities in the state such as: Belo Horizonte, Divinopolis, Sete Lagoas, 
Juiz de Fora, Conselheiro Lafaiete, Uba, Itauna, Lagoa da Prata, Uberlandia and the state’s 
Alves, Lima, Osório, Gomes, Calderón 8 
 
southern district. In the state of Sao Paulo, this cargo principally comes from the municipality 
of Sao Paulo and also Holambra and Franca (470 km from Sao Joao Del Rei); these are cities 
which principally provide clothing, footwear and utilities, products from Sectors F and G. 
Even though there is no clear pattern, most deliveries take place from Monday to Friday 
during business hours, from 8:00 a.m. to 6 p.m Table 5 present the hours of the week when 
deliveries are used by the interviewed companies. 
 
TABLE 5– Delivery Times 
 
 08:00 a.m. - 11:59 a.m. 12:00 p.m. 03:59 p.m. 14:00 p.m. – 7:59 p.m. 
A 33% 32% 27% 
B 60% 20% 20% 
C 35% 35% 27% 
D 38% 35% 27% 
E 36% 33% 28% 
F 39% 34% 27% 
G 35% 32% 26 
 
As can be observed in Table 5, a large portion of the deliveries occurs during business 
hours and end up disputing for parking spots with consumers, which generates problems related 
to increased traffic levels and loss of customers who leave the area due to lack of parking spots. 
A great discrepancy can be observed on Wednesday deliveries for the B Sector (Electronics 
and Technology) given that most of the goods from this sector are purchased in the city of São 
Paulo and the store owners themselves provide the transportation. There is only one large 
business in this sector which receives goods daily. This is the only group of businesses which 
does not receive deliveries on Saturdays. 
Atypical behavior was observed which was not represented in Table 5, as companies 
(2% in total) which receive deliveries on Sundays and after 8:00 p.m. represent a small portion 
of the total interviewed.; these are typically A Sector (Food Industry) businesses, bars and 
restaurants, which operate at night and require deliveries which are carried out by the 
distributors located in the same city and operate during the same hours. Continuing the analysis, 
two G Sector businesses responded that they opt to receive their goods between 4:00 a.m. and 
7:59 a.m. to avoid problems related to the lack of parking spaces and difficulties in 
loading/unloading. While only a small percentage of the deliveries in São João Del Rei happen 
during off hour deliveries (OHD), this practice has been used in multiple cities. As was seen 
early, the distribution of urban goods during peak business hours has made delivery more costly 
due to the time lost in congested traffic and searching for parking spaces to load and unload. 
Thus, nighttime deliveries show themselves to be an innovative alternative to mitigate 
the problems encountered in urban centers and could serve as an option to optimize the delivery 
of goods in the studied region(24). Two obstacles are presented by Oliveira et al.(25) and 
Bertazzo et al.(26) Upon investigating this in the context of Brazil: the lack of security and 
employees to receive the goods. In the case of São João Del Rei, there is a way around these 
difficulties which could make these options more attractive for retailers and transporters, which 
would be through the means of fiscal incentives and greater investment in security. 
 
 
Alves, Lima, Osório, Gomes, Calderón 9 
 
PROBLEMS IMPOSED BY THE CITY’S CHARACTERISTICS AND CIRCULATION 
OF VEHICLES 
 
São João Del Rei fits into the profile of cities which must elaborate urban mobility plans. 
However, the Mobility Plan has been in the elaboration phase since 2013. The regulation of 
loading and unloading zones is one of the main requirements for the plan, and due to the 
important this question poses to the city, it was a key question in this study. 
The loading and unloading process for most of the goods which supply the interviewed 
companies happens in common parking spaces spread throughout city plazas and streets (78%). 
Only 9% of the companies interviewed have deposits and their own loading/unloading areas. 
In general, these companies commercialize products in larger quantities, such as construction 
materials, furniture and home appliances. However, the infrastructure of these deposits is still 
dated and according to those interviewed, they should be modernized to make the process more 
agile. In the literature, this same situation is shown by Arantes et al.(27) when investigating 
the loading and unloading process in Itajubá, MG. The space available for loading and 
unloading was documented by Furquim et al.(28) as the main logistical challenge. 
Only 10% of the loading and unloading process is carried out in parking spots which 
are zoned for the activity. A small percentage of the interviewees (3%) opt for paying private 
parking lots because they have a difficult time finding parking spots to receive their 
merchandise. The small percentage of parking spots are reserved for loading and unloading, 
along with the lack of enforcement and disobedience for current legislation, regarding vehicles 
which park in spots reserved for loading and unloading (as illustrated in Figure 2), makes traffic 
in the region more congested and hinders the supply of merchandise to the region’s businesses 
and retailers. 
 
 
 
FIGURE 2- Vehicles in prohibited parking zones 
 
In European cities such as Paris, France and Barcelona, Spain there are more than 8,000 
regulated loading and unloading areas. For Latin American cities of the same size, such as 
Buenos Aires, Argentina, (750) and Belo Horizonte, Brazil (550), the numbers don’t even reach 
10%. In São João Del Rei, this figure is even worse. In the studied region, there are only 7 
spots(29, 14, 15, 25, 28) . To compose the complete scenario of merchandise deliveries in the 
Alves, Lima, Osório, Gomes, Calderón 10 
 
studied area, the retailers reported what were the main problems encountered upon receiving 
their goods, among those listed below: 
1- Lack of parking lot reserved specifically for loading and unloading2- Unsuitable parking spaces for loading/unloading 
3- Very narrow streets 
4- Inadequate legislation and regulations, too much traffic in the city 
5- Access restriction for cargo transportation vehicles in certain urban areas 
Each business could respond to more than one problem, and still indicate others, 
responding to Option 6. Table 6 shows the percentage of problems reported by the companies, 
per sector. 
 
TABLE 6- Problems encountered in materials loading and unloading (divided by 
sector) 
 
 1 2 3 4 5 6 
A 1% 1% 2% 3% 3% 4% 
B 26% 27% 13% 30% 28% 2% 
C 3% 4% 4% 4% 4% 1% 
D 6% 5% 5% 5% 5% 3% 
E 6% 6% 5% 7% 5% 1% 
F 9% 6% 6% 7% 7% 0% 
G 32% 30% 28% 30% 29% 5% 
Total 82% 80% 63% 86% 81% 15% 
 
These issues, according to those interviewed, occur principally due to the lack of 
infrastructure and logistics planning from the city’s public sector. Some businesses cited other 
types of problems, such as: 
 Excess of semi-truck transit in the downtown area, which goes against the responses 
founds in this study; 
 Excessive bureaucracy, taxation and fees related to private parking; 
 Exclusion of a large portion of the loading/unloading parking spots originally zoned by 
the municipality. 
Few businesses reported positively about their receiving and unloading processes, and 
all of those who said to experience few challenges said they used small vehicles or passenger 
cars to maintain their establishments. One starting point for improving the city’s current 
scenario is to formulate an aligned and efficient urban mobility plan with the city management 
plan. The mobility plan must encompass all of the variables imposed by the historical context 
of growth of the city in order to organize activities and minimize the previously described 
problems (16). 
 
DISCUSSION 
 
Of particular interest to this case in São João Del Rei is the study by Correia et al. (14) which 
points to the restriction of cargo vehicles as a means of managing impacts generated by cargo 
transportation, in terms of: visual intrusion, physical intimidation and noise. However, this 
should not be the only goal of public authorities, given that other problems such as an increase 
in the amount of trips performed per light vehicles and consequently an increase in greenhouse 
gas emissions, as evidenced by Zambuzi et al (2) 
However, as the layout of main bridges which access the studied region are 
compromised, this restriction must be obeyed. In order to do so, the municipal government 
needs to increase the enforcement of the law. One way to mitigate the problems is by greater 
use of vehicle capacity, avoiding low usage. This would be possible through consolidation of 
Alves, Lima, Osório, Gomes, Calderón 11 
 
merchandise obtained at urban consolidation centers(UCC). These centers are locations 
installed outside of urban cities which receive, consolidate and carry out cross-docking, so that 
goods can be distributed into smaller vehicles and optimizing the value loaded. In an ideal 
scenario, this distribution would happen outside of peak hours, allying the advantages of UCC 
with nighttime deliveries (12–14). 
For the success of any of the initiatives cited above, the involvement of all of the 
stakeholders is necessary. In order for this to happen, Taniguchi et al. (6) indicates the 
realization of debates and workshops for all of the actors in urban logistics. During the 
interviews, a deficiency was perceived in communication between the retailers, transporters, 
and municipal administrators, which ends up resulting in a lack of comprehension about 
problems faced by all. The formation of a committee of representatives and stakeholders to 
discuss the difficulties encountered, and propose improvement opportunities such as those 
suggested in this study could address that. In Europe these debates happen during the 
implementation of the London Transportation Plan and saw positive results (30). 
 
CONCLUSIONS 
 
This study’s results point to the necessity for local authorities to include special 
measures for the transportation cargo in their municipal transport planning. The means by 
which to improve goods distribution (such as unloading docks, delivery consolidation, delivery 
windows, etc.) could improve not only economic development but also social and 
environmental aspects of the city. The results also show the need for creation of new policies 
for urban logistics, including more areas reserved for loading and unloading of cargo, along 
with greater monitoring, from authorities, of these locations to guarantee that the law is upheld. 
The application of the methodology presents some challenges in collecting sample data, 
per sector, which are statistically reliable. Participation was voluntary. Therefore, a significant 
effort is required to obtain data to conduct efficient distribution planning in urban centers. 
It is important to mention that there are no readily-available solutions or formula for 
success for the multitude of problems generated by urban cargo transportation and unloading. 
Thus, any chosen strategy to mitigate these problems should be developed according to the 
local characteristics of the region and, above all, should establish a coherence between the 
conflicting objectives of the multiple actors which make up the urban environment. 
Finally, the participation of all stakeholders is fundamental for the success of any cargo 
distribution initiative, which will allow for the selection of the solutions which meet the needs 
of a wide range of final consumers. In order to do so, forums and workshops are indicated as a 
means of stimulating debate among the actors in local urban logistics. For future studies, it is 
suggested that the adherence to and use of the transporters and retailers to the use of urban 
distribution centers, along with nighttime deliveries, be investigated. 
 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
 
The authors would like to acknowledge the Brazilian agencies FAPEMIG (Foundation for the 
Promotion of Science of the State of Minas Gerais) and CNPq (Brazilian National Council for 
Scientific and Technological Development) for the financial support provided to this research. 
 
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