by Walther Ploos van Amstel
Switching to electric vehicles to reduce CO2 emissions and preserve the environment is a common approach also being relevant to the last mile. However, establishing electric vehicles in the long term requires considering economic and social sustainability and ecological sustainability. Additionally, the last mile is characterized by different participants who must be considered for a holistic approach. In …
E-commerce is becoming an increasingly visible feature of modern society that places increasing strain on transport systems. Research has hitherto paid substantial attention to ways e-commerce might modify personal travel behavior. Still, it has been less attentive to the ramifications of e-commerce for urban freight. Although contemporary conditions of urban freight are increasingly scrutinized by scholars in …
How can flexible applications of the space and infrastructure of urban distribution centers (UDCs) be organized to help lower demands on space and infrastructure in cities? The application of flexible use of space and infrastructure can improve the efficiency of a UDC, but the challenge lies in the organization of the application of flexibility. A possible …
Parking is necessary for 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, the researchers address this challenge of finding parking through the Capacitated Delivery Problem with Parking (CDPP). Unlike other models in the literature, the …
Same-day delivery, where a customer places an e-commerce order and delivers it within the same calendar day, is a small market segment. A McKinsey analysis suggests that same-day accounts for less than 5 percent of most countries’ courier, express, and parcel (CEP) market. McKinsey examines six variables that drive the potential for same-day delivery services. …
A new paper quantifies the potential Freight Demand Management (FDM) market in metropolitan areas. The authors define FDM and describe the various initiatives that could be undertaken to reduce the externalities produced by freight traffic. These changes involve altering the demand patterns enacted by the receivers of supplies. The term Freight Demand Management (FDM) is the area of transportation …
Microdelivery-based city logistics platforms struggle to remain profitable. Boosting their efficiency will foster the usage of bikes instead of heavy vehicles. However, challenges related to riders’ unsafe behavior in traffic also need to be addressed. The SINERGI project aims to provide solutions that will help boost logistic operations that are both sustainable and safe. SINERGI …
The transport sector needs to drastically reduce its carbon footprint to comply with the Paris Agreement. In today’s sharing economy, horizontal collaboration is an emerging strategy to contribute to this goal. However, most studies on horizontal collaboration or resource pooling are approached from a theoretical Operations Research perspective, and case studies are usually stylized. At …
Integrating parcel lockers has become crucial as urban spaces evolve, especially with the booming e-commerce sector. A new ULaaDS publication, developed by Bax & Company, with valuable insights from Gemeente Groningen (NL) and the University of Groningen, addresses the rapid expansion of these services and their impact on urban life and public spaces. Key highlights …
Urban freight deliveries using microhubs and cargo kibes have gained attention in cities suffering from congestion and emissions. Cargo bike deliveries for parcels and microhubs used as transshipment points in urban cores can replace trucks to make cities more livable. An Urban Freight Lab study describes and empirically evaluates an e-cargo tricycle pilot delivering parcels …