Different Urban Consolidation Centre Scenarios: Impact on External Costs of Last-Mile Deliveries

Abstract

The identification and mitigation of negative externalities from goods deliveries in urban areas are important aspects of sustainable urban development. Previous studies have shown that urban freight consolidation increases the load factor of Delivery Vehicles (DVs), reducing the vehicle-kilometres driven and thus reducing negative freight transport externalities in urban areas. The objective of this paper is to explore the possible impact of the number of Urban Consolidation Centres (UCCs) on the external costs of last-mile deliveries in freight transport and to determine the possible contribution of such consolidation scenarios to external cost mitigation. Therefore, several consolidation scenarios are considered assuming different numbers of UCCs in operation. A new consolidation scheme is proposed with more than one UCC to serve a given city area. Input data are obtained from a roadside questionnaire survey with a sample of 1617 drivers at 9 access roads to an urban area as part of the NOvi Sad TRAnsport Model (NOSTRAM) study. Externalities are calculated using the IMPACT methodology and discussed for different urban freight consolidation options. The best option is identified, and the results indicate that properly planned, organised and managed urban freight consolidation can significantly reduce transport externalities. The main research results showed that all of the proposed consolidation options increase the total driving distance in an urban area. However, some consolidation options significantly reduce the driving distance of less manageable vehicles in last-mile deliveries (long-haul heavy- and light-duty vehicles). Consequently, the external costs ranged from 2108.3 to 5420.5 EUR for the consolidation option, whereas the current state externalities are 2791.4 EUR. Thus, more small UCCs may provide better results than the central centre even in medium-sized cities.

Framework of Last Mile Logistics Research: A Systematic Review of the Literature

“…Logistics and supply chain design focuses on the design of various supply chain aspects, such as fulfillment [12], distribution [127], hub and spoke systems [124], last mile logistics models [3], and logistics challenges related to the distribution system [130]. Urban freight terminals include urban distribution centers [138], urban consolidation centers [135], mobile depots [132], and loading bays [136]. Urban planning focuses on articles related to urban planning, particularly the impact of urban freight activity [143] and parking practices [145].…”

Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration in Urban Transport: State-of-the-Art and Research Opportunities

“…Estrada et al (2018) introduce a modelling approach to estimate the costs and impacts of various scenarios, including a UCC, night deliveries with current delivery schemes and a combination of both, showing which is the contribution of each solution (UCCs and night deliveries) and their respective cost. Veličković et al (2018) make also an impact assessment but including external costs; -concerning the economic evaluation, the identification and assessment of external costs is a little studied topic in urban logistics (Melo, Costa 2011) but remains more developed in mobility (Verhoef 1994;Mayeres et al 1996;Maibach et al 2008). De Langhe (2017) and Cárdenas et al (2017) made a first contribution to the definition of urban transport external costs, respectively for freight tramways (which are a form of urban consolidation) and B2C deliveries.…”

“…However, their research is based on the identification of costs and the methods of quantification for existing systems, and not deal with ex-ante assessment. Veličković et al (2018) focus on external costs of urban freight transport and apply it to UCCs scenarios, showing how the inclusion of those costs can lead to different decisions in the choice of the urban consolidation strategy of a city or urban zone; -a largely explored field in urban logistics is policy making (Lindholm, Browne 2013). However, the definition and formalization of perspectives of development remain very local and it is difficult to propose REVIEW PAPER them at national or international level on a standard basis.…”

A Multi-Criteria Structure for Sustainable Implementation of Urban Distribution Centers in Historical Cities

“…The UDC location problem involves much more aspects, the participation of different stakeholders, as well as social, cultural, and environmental criteria [5,21] beyond the criteria that are related to operational and economic aspects. Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods which consider a set of different criteria (not only financial criteria [27][28][29]) and the opinion of the engaged stakeholders are generally more appropriate for the identification of UDC locations. These methods can also be used to deal with e-commerce retailers, which face the challenge to fulfill their consumers with a large number of small orders, large assortment, tight delivery schedules, and varying workloads [30].…”