Integration of Urban Freight Innovations: Sustainable Inner-Urban Intermodal Transportation in the Retail/Postal Industry

Abstract

Urban population growth has permanently increased the commodity demands and freight flow within urban areas. The retail/postal industry is intent on finding appropriate internal approaches and a new business model to respond to the adverse impacts generated by urban freight activities. Usage of emerging transport modes is an efficient solution for these industries. Nevertheless, considerable research has paid less attention to the implementation status of distribution innovations, as well as to their suitability and application restrictions. Concurrently, a comprehensive consideration of various distribution innovations that operate together as a system is lacking. To this end, this paper adopted a literature review method and GE multifactorial analysis. Specifically, this paper reviewed the related articles that were published in the past six years (2013–2018) to define the concept of distribution innovations. In addition, we adopted the approach of GE multifactorial analysis to analyze the application status of distribution innovations from the perspective of academic research and company implementation. Following the suitability assessment and application of restriction analysis, we proposed the concept of sustainable inner-urban intermodal transport (SIUIT) for the retail/postal industry. This paper contributes to the sustainable urban freight literature by exploring possible future research directions of SIUIT.

A Theoretical Research Framework of Future Sustainable Urban Freight Transport for Smart Cities

“…For instance, DHL Express piloted the City Hub concept (2017) in which vehicles are combined with a customized trailer carrying up to four containers and then use DHL Cubicycles (a cargo-bike able to carry a container) to complete last-mile delivery [87]. Therefore, the use of distribution innovations, such as the implementation of electric vehicles to reduce the emissions created by freight activities, is an efficient solution for the future urban freight system [17].…”

“…The use of urban distribution innovations is an efficient solution for promoting sustainable urban freight transport. The definition of urban distribution innovations is the application of emerging transport modes to reduce the negative impacts of urban freight movements, thereby promoting the sustainability of city logistics [17]. According to the literature review, there are eleven urban distribution innovations: electric vehicles (EVs), public transit logistics, taxi logistics, cargo-bikes, parcel lockers, delivery drones, robotic vehicles, delivery robots, modular vehicles, mobile depots, and urban freight ships.…”

“…At present, there is very little research work and few systematically prepared findings in this area. The integration of urban distribution innovations is an efficient solution for further promoting sustainable urban freight transport [17]. Lots of logistics providers and technology companies have indeed launched similar concepts for future SUFT.…”

“…For example, Kikuta et al (2012) [89] mentioned that Yamato Transport Co. (Tokyo, Japan) has been adopting a tram system for transshipping goods to Arashiyama in Kyoto and then using cargo-bikes to conduct last-mile delivery within urban areas. He and Haasis (2019) [17] proposed the concept of sustainable inner-urban intermodal transportation, which integrates these eleven distribution innovations with small standardized containers. Nevertheless, much less research has focused on systematically selecting these different innovations to construct delivery strategies for future sustainable urban freight transport.…”

“…An example is the utilization of electric vehicles (EVs) to deliver goods to customers within urban areas, which can reduce air pollution. Notwithstanding this, various distribution innovations operate together as a system that radically influences the conventional urban freight network [17]. For example, using urban freight trams requires the building of several transit stations and the integration of the passenger and freight.…”