Mobile Access Hub Deployment for Urban Parcel Logistics

Louis Faugère, Chelsea White and Benoit Montreuil
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Louis Faugère: Physical Internet Center, School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, lGA 30332, USA
Chelsea White: Supply Chain & Logistics Institute, School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
Benoit Montreuil: Physical Internet Center, School of Industrial & Systems Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, lGA 30332, USA

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 17, 1-22

Abstract: Last-mile logistics is an essential yet highly expensive component of city logistics responsible for many nuisances in urban areas. Mobile access hubs are flexible consolidation and transshipment points aiming at creating more sustainable city logistics systems by dynamically using urban space as logistics facilities. In this paper, we examine the potential of mobile access hub deployments for urban parcel logistics by identifying the impact of design parameters on economic and environmental performance. We propose a mathematical modeling framework and an integer program to assess the performance of mobile access hub deployments, and study the impact of a set of design parameters through synthetic cases and an illustrative case inspired from a large parcel express carrier’s operations. Results indicate design flexibility relative to the location of hubs and pronounced advantages in highly variable environments. The illustrative case shows significant savings potential in terms of cost and time efficiency as well as environmental sustainability. It emphasizes a trade-off between operational efficiency and environmental sustainability that can be balanced to achieve global sustainability goals while being economically sound.

Keywords: city logistics; mobile hubs; dynamic use of urban space; micro-consolidation; capillary logistics networks; physical internet (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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