A New Solution for City Distribution to Achieve Environmental Benefits within the Trend of Green Logistics: A Case Study in China

Kexin Bi, Mengke Yang, Latif Zahid and Xiaoguang Zhou
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Kexin Bi: School of Modern Post, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
Mengke Yang: School of Modern Post, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China
Latif Zahid: Department of Business Administration, Gomal University, DIKhan 29050, Pakistan
Xiaoguang Zhou: School of Modern Post, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Beijing 100876, China

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 20, 1-25

Abstract: Green logistics has become a consensus and an important method to achieve sustainable development in industrial activities. However, the traditional direct distribution mode has high carbon emissions, an uncertain delivery time, and a low delivery efficiency. Uncoordinated resource allocations and unreasonable network layouts of terminal distributions have shackled green development within the express delivery industry. Considering the trend of green logistics, this study innovatively proposes a comprehensive and environmentally friendly mode for city distribution based on end crowdsourcing service stations (ECSSs). This study also adopts node centrality indices of complex network theory to evaluate the node importance of existing terminal distribution outlets. The comprehensive weights of the indices are obtained via the three-scale AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and TOPSIS (Technology for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) methods to identify the candidate nodes for ECSSs. Finally, a location model is built to determine the optimal location to establish the ECSSs. A real-world case study was conducted to provide the location scheme of ECSSs in Beijing, China. Environmental benefits as well as economic and social benefits can be substantially achieved through the implementation of the new mode. The results show that carbon emissions can be reduced by 23.79–28.49% for the end of the distribution, 16.27–16.35% for the front-end, and approximately 17% for the entire distribution. Additionally, the loading rate of vans for the front-end of the distribution can be improved by 15.77%.

Keywords: express delivery industry; city logistics; green logistics; crowdsourcing distribution; complex network; environmental benefits (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 (5)

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