Our paper (joint work with Bram Kin, Joeri Spoor, Sara Verlinde, Cathy Macharis):

Modelling alternative distribution set-ups for fragmented last mile transport: towards more efficient and sustainable urban freight transport

just got published in Case Studies on Transport Policy. The publisher gave full access for a limited period. You can freely access the paper here.

Alternative ways of transporting goods in the last mile emerge. These include (horizontal) collaboration in an urban consolidation centre (UCC), multi-echelon networks, initiatives such as crowdsourcing in the light of the sharing economy, the use of lockers and the deployment of alternative vehicles (e.g., electric vehicles, cargobikes). There are ample research opportunities for these newer last mile distribution set-ups. Additionally, the applicability and success of alternative distribution set-ups largely depends on the local context (e.g., restrictions, density, congestion level) and transferability of set-ups is complicated.

This study aims to fill these gaps by modelling the cost-effectiveness of alternative distribution set-ups to improve the efficiency of fragmented freight flows. The model is based on logistics processes and takes into account receiver attributes and local context, which other studies do not include. Each aspect has different cost variables that influence the applicability and transferability of a distribution set-up. In order to validate the model it is applied on the highly fragmented supply of fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) towards small independent retailers.

More information needed? Please contact me.