Decision support tool for performance evaluation of urban transshipment networks with electric freight vehicles in low emission zone

Abstract

Urban transshipment network is a transshipment solution for last-mile distribution in dense metropolitan regions. In this network, a set of micro hubs located in the urban areas are used for deconsolidating shipments and transferring them from high capacity vehicles to light freight vehicles that eventually deliver to customer locations. Due to the shorter distances between the micro hubs and final customers, these networks can be combined with light electric freight vehicles with limited driving ranges to deliver shipments from micro hubs networks. Thus, logistics service providers can potentially adopt these networks for complying with new low emission zone policies that restrict diesel cargo vehicles to enter dense urban regions. However, before deciding to adopt these new networks over existing conventional ones, it is imperative to assess the performance of these networks towards achieving overall business objectives. Although optimization models can be used for the evaluation process, the existing models that can be used for urban transshipment networks are computationally complex, causing their limited application to real-life contexts. Thus, this research presents a new continuous approximation-based model in the form of a support system for LSP to evaluate the performance of urban transshipment networks in a simpler aggregate manner. The application of the support system to a synthetic case study revealed that the model was able to provide a feasible solution that was adequate for strategic evaluation and performance of urban transshipment networks was contingent on the density of customer points in LEZ