The Institute for City Logistics organised the 4th International Conference on City Logistics on Langkawi Island, Malaysia on 12-14 July 2005. Fifty researchers and practitioners from 15 countries participated in the conference. Two review papers and thirty-eight papers were presented during the conference.

Two review papers focused on data collection for modelling, evaluating and benchmarking city logistics schemes as well as intermodal transport and city logistics. Data collection associated with recent developments in ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) were discussed and public private partnerships were recognised as being a key element in establishing a common information platform towards city logistics. Intermodality was seen as essential element in the context of establishing efficient and environment friendly urban freight transport systems, although intermodal freight transport systems have not been fully utilised in urban areas.

A number of modelling papers highlighted recent advances in city logistics, including tour-based models, probabilistic vehicle routing and scheduling, multi-agent systems, impact model of network improvement and loading/unloading spaces.

Several of the models presented have been applied to practical problems and validated. Models for evaluating the performance of city logistics policy measures such as co-operative freight transport systems, access control of trucks and application of advanced information systems were described. Great efforts have been made to deal with several stakeholders involved in urban freight transport and multi-agent models were presented to address the interaction of competing and co-operating agents. Discussions also focused on how to narrow the gap between modelling and planning in the area of urban goods movement.

Planning and policy papers focused on various topics related to urban freight transport, including performance indicators, cost structure, effects of e-commerce, time window policies, consolidation centres as well as pilot projects of city logistics measures in several cities. Experience and knowledge associated with urban freight policy measures were exchanged among participants. Comparison of policy measures of different countries was also presented. Papers from developing countries, including, Thailand, Indonesia and Mexico, showed that cities in these countries have similar urban freight transport problems as industrialised countries such as traffic congestion and negative environmental impacts.

The conference presentations stimulated intensive discussion on modelling and planning city logistics. As well it promoted mutual understanding and collaborative research among participants.

Elsevier will publish the proceeding book of this conference in 2006. The PowerPoint files of presentation will be uploaded in the website of the Institute for City Logistics. (http://www.citylogistics.org/)