by Walther Ploos van Amstel
In 2022 three Delphi studies (based on scenarios) were published about the future of last-mile innovations in urban areas: Peppel, M., Ringbeck, J., & Spinler, S. (2022). How will last-mile delivery be shaped in 2040? A Delphi-based scenario study. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 177, 121493. The researchers developed projections of future consumer behavior, delivery technologies, delivery services, …
A transition in city logistics is necessary to solve challenges in the last mile. Realizing such a transition appears to be difficult, as many trials and field tests undertaken in the city logistics prove, but major transitions are lacking. City logistics issues are complex to solve, as there is usually no single problem owner and …
Urban freight transportation encompasses freight vehicles whose primary purpose is to carry goods into, out of, and within urban areas. For the city inhabitants, it supplies stores and places of work and leisure, delivers goods at home, provides the means to eliminate waste, etc. It forms a vital link for firms with suppliers and customers …
The parcel industry has undergone significant changes in recent years, primarily driven by the surge of e-commerce and new technologies. The Physical Internet (PI) provides initiatives to optimize parcel flow and jointly address the industry’s economic, operational, social, and environmental sustainability issues. Encapsulating parcels in modular PI containers is a promising method to enhance efficiency …
A 2021 paper discusses the importance of incorporating online home delivery services (OHDS) into accessibility and marginalization. The authors propose a method to quantify access to OHDS and assess levels of inequalities in access to OHDS using data from OHDS providers in the pharmaceutical and food sectors and transport operators delivering parcels. The Västra Götaland Region on …
During WCTR23, a panel led by Michael Browne discussed future research themes in city logistics with the audience. City logistics research has grown dramatically in recent years (from a small base). There are many more conferences and journal papers, and more researchers are now involved in this field. This panel session will identify the actions …
The fast growth of e-commerce in urban areas has led to a surge in last-mile transportation demand and an associated increase in external effects: congestion, noise, and visual pollution. A recent paper analyses a new urban freight transport service that could potentially reduce this footprint: crowd shipping. Crowd shipping is a service where a package …
Sustainability objectives determine the current guidelines for urban freight transport. Therefore, local authorities face the challenge of making urban freight transport sustainable. To do so, it is necessary to involve the various stakeholder groups of the city logistics ecosystem in ongoing sustainability efforts. This problem formed the basis for the formulated objective of a recent …
Implementing circular urban supply chains is a significant economic transformation that can only work if coordination decisions are solved between the actors involved. What are the research challenges in circular urban supply chains? Creating regional ecosystems On the one hand, this requires the implementation of efficient urban collection technologies, where waste collection companies collaborate with manufacturers, …
New research by lobby group Transport and Environment debunks carmakers’ claims that Euro 7 standards won’t significantly improve the quality. The truck industry organization ACEA says: ‘Significant progress has been made in the EU on reducing air pollution from vehicles, under the current Euro 6/VI standards. Euro 7 is unlikely to make much more of …