Category «Research»

Learning from, or repeating, past mistakes in urban construction logistics?

The construction industry is reluctant to utilize construction logistics centers (CLC). Mats Janne and Anna Fredriksson’s study focused on understanding the drivers and challenges of CLC utilization. There is a difference between drivers and challenges for implementing and utilizing CLCs, often implemented to reduce third-party disturbances. CLCs can reduce environmental impact and third-party disturbances. However, …

Towards profitable growth in e-grocery retailing: the role of store and household density

Despite the continued growth of e-grocery sales, few companies make any profits in this retail segment. Increasing market shares and associated drop densities may make profitable operations possible. Higher delivery fees seem essential to profitability. Yet such higher fees may put e-groceries at a disadvantage compared to the traditional store channel, which remains highly competitive. …

Last-mile delivering: analysis of environment-friendly transport

Urban logistics is becoming increasingly complex and costly. There are several reasons for this, such as the growth of e-commerce, enhanced customer expectations, the desire to increase delivery performance at lower costs, and improvement in city/urban sustainability and livability. In order to respond to the challenges of urban last-mile distribution, companies have to develop new …

Research: vans versus bikes versus drones

Urban distribution in medium-sized cities faces a major challenge, mainly when deliveries are difficult in the city center due to: an increase in e-commerce, weak public transportation system, and the promotion of urban sustainability plans. As a result, private cars, public transportation, and freight transportation compete for the same space. A new paper by Serrano-Hernandez …

Research: the environmental impact and costs of externalities of using urban consolidation centres

Literature on city logistics presents a large number of practical experiences of urban consolidation centres (UCCs). Still, there is limited knowledge about the potential reduction of the environmental impact and the related externality costs (vehicle kilometres, the number of vehicles, CO2 , NOx and PM). A new paper by Katsela et al. evaluates the environmental …

Cargo bikes are a winner in parcel deliveries

Electric cargo bikes provide a cleaner, quicker solution for urban deliveries, but clearer regulations and banning fossil-fuelled vehicles are key to encouraging their uptake. These were conclusions of The Promise of Low-Carbon Freight report, which, using data from logistics operator Pedal Me, found that adopting cargo bikes not only reduced carbon emissions by 90%, compared with diesel …

Research: exploring the feasibility of electric vehicles in the short food supply chain

The transition towards more sustainable approaches in the Food Supply Chain was concretely visible in the implementation of alternative models, like Short Food Supply Chains. Some authors raise doubts on the environmental impact of this model, in particular for the externalities caused by the transport system, suggesting the adoption of Electric Freight vehicles. By adopting …

Winning Last Mile Challenge team addresses the problem of combining mathematical routes with driver knowledge

Finding the optimal route between multiple destinations (the traveling salesman problem) is a challenge regularly faced by Amazon’s Last Mile team. Meeting that challenge has meant developing planning software to allow Amazon’s delivery fleet to find the most efficient routes. But what happens when drivers must deviate from those routes? Drivers have access to real-time …

Research: the impact of search time for parking on last-mile optimization

Parking is a necessary component of traditional last-mile delivery practices, but finding parking can be difficult. Yet, the routing literature largely does not account for the need to find parking. In a new paper by Reed et.al., the researchers address this challenge of finding parking through the Capacitated Delivery Problem with Parking (CDPP). Including the …

Research: the role of incentives in zero-emission last-mile deliveries in California

Last-mile deliveries usually occur within urban areas where logistics operations increase congestion and emissions, as well as associated roadway-related health impacts. A new paper evaluates the role of incentives for zero and near-zero emission vehicle (ZEV) technologies in last-mile delivery operations. Specifically, the study investigates the total cost of ownership and life cycle environmental impacts associated with …