A Blockchain-Based Framework for Green Logistics in Supply Chains

Abstract

The logistics industry around the world has proliferated over recent years as a large number of business organizations have come to recognize the importance of logistics. Cost control used to be emphasized to remain competitive, but recently green logistics has gained attention with the awareness of the integration of economy and society as a whole. Nowadays, green logistics is a useful concept to improve the sustainability of logistics operations, and its related policies and theoretical research have been investigated and explored. However, the practical applications of green logistics are impeded by real-time data sharing, which is common in the logistics industry. Blockchain technology is adopted to address this challenge and enable data sharing among related stakeholders. This paper presents a reference framework for green logistics based on blockchain to reach the sustainable operations of logistics, with the integration of the Internet of Things and big data. Finally, potential benefits and limitations are analyzed when implementing this framework.

Blockchain Technology for Sustainable Supply Chain Management: A Systematic Literature Review and a Classification Framework

“…A blockchain-based framework can establish a feature to reduce the carbon emissions of the clothing manufacturing life cycle [167]. Frameworks can be developed for green logistics based on blockchain fundamentally but also incorporating other technologies like IoT and Big Data [168].…”

Improving the Operational Efficiency of Parcel Delivery Network with a Bi-Level Decision Making Model

“…A number of studies in the literature show the importance of integrating terminal management with fleet assignment problems since those elements can be mutually effective [7,10,14,15,18,31,33,34]. Terminal size and location problems with minimized transport costs or greenhouse gas emissions are one such example.…”

“…A smart logistics company operating a parcel shipping service may prefer a collaboration between a terminal manager and a routing manager. We assume that a smart logistics company is capable of managing shipments data via an open communication technology such as blockchain [18]. This enables the terminal manager to interact with a fleet manager to optimize the logistic system.…”

“…From the total processing cost and the associated arrival rate, we can also estimate the unit cost of processing as Equation (18). The unit cost is a non-linear and non-convex function with respect to the arrival rate of shipments, therefore, it is impossible to have a global optimum solution for the mathematical problem with this function.…”

“…In [17] a comprehensive review of research on truck emission is provided and the importance of incorporating multiple approaches such as engine technology, traffic flow regulation, and speed regulation of trucks in green logistics is discussed. In [18], a supply chain framework is proposed that adopts blockchain technology for communication and utilizes logistic information for efficient collaboration between stakeholders. Their framework is a peer-to-peer collaborative logistics, which includes a vehicle routing strategy that finds optimal routes for sustainable operations and maximizing utilization of terminal capacity.…”