Urban freight transport in a metropolitan context: The Belo Horizonte city case study

Abstract This paper presents the findings of a freight transport study carried out for Belo Horizonte city (Brazil). Based on surveys on the main accessing roads to the Belo Horizonte Metropolitan Region (RMBH), it was noted that 30% of the trucks circulated empty inside the Belo Horizonte Central Area, and among those that contained some load, one could observe the use of less than 50% of their load capacity. On the other hand, the largest trucks carried loads that weighted 23% above their nominal capacity. These facts suggest an approach based on the concept of City Logistics should be applied in the management of the freight transport for the whole metropolitan region.