MIT: e-commerce leads to 36 percent less emissions

With e-commerce setting records last year and parcel deliveries forecast to grow by 80 percent over the next decade, a study by the MIT Real Estate Innovation Lab reveals the environmental benefits of online shopping. Using average emissions results from the MIT study, the share shift to e-commerce resulted in approximately 2,4 percent fewer emissions per parcel.

Urban waste is a new challenge for city logistics

Recycling activities are complex and involve many actors. Recycling supply chains are under increasing pressure due to higher volumes of waste and rising requirements regarding the treatment and quality of the secondary raw materials. The global generation of municipal solid waste is estimated to be two billion tons per year.

Aggregate delivery tour modelling through automated vehicle monitoring data

Freight vehicle origin-destination (O-D) matrices play a key role within the assessment procedures of city logistics scenarios, and simulation of delivery tours allows such O-D flows to be obtained. A recent paper revisits a modelling framework for simulating delivery tours using an aggregate approach of implementing a real test case using the global position system (GPS) …

Research: taking truck-routing and drone-resupply decisions

Online customers expect faster delivery. Last-mile logistics operators normally deliver goods on the same day that they receive them at their local facilities, creating the challenge of planning delivery routes while simultaneously receiving new requests. Once delivery vehicles have started their routes, these operators commonly employ two strategies to manage the arrival of new orders: dispatch …

Circular plastic value chains require integrated approach

If the demand for plastics follows its current trajectory, global plastic waste volumes will grow from 260 million tonnes per year in 2016 to 460 million tonnes by 2030. In Europe, still, only around 30% of all plastic waste is collected for recycling. This proportion must increase, but limited EPR schemes, fragmented waste management systems, …

TU Eindhoven: bring the vaccine to the people

A group of logistics experts from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) and the European Supply Chain Forum proposes to have the bulk of the corona vaccines brought to people’s homes and administered in their familiar environment. A hundred trucks outfitted for refrigerated transport with four to ten ‘jabbers’ should suffice. This is not only …

Picnic: using data-driven driver coach for road safety

Michiel Muller of Dutch e-groceries company Picnic tackles traffic safety firmly. And, with results. In an interview with MONO-zakelijk he says: ‘In our view, safety starts with exact measurement and knowledge: having the right data. If you want to deliver efficiently, you have to work efficiently. So you need to know exactly how such a …

Picnic: solving logistics problems using Genetic Algorithms

What do designing an aircraft wing, packing boxes into a container, and making timetables have in common? They’re all optimization problems, according to Picnic blogger Geert Konijnendijk: “there’s an objective to be maximized or minimized (least air resistance, most boxes packed or least man-hours spent). Each individual solution to these problems will have a score …