Location of Urban Logistics Spaces (ULS) for Two-Echelon Distribution Systems

Abstract

The main concern in city logistics is the need to optimize the movement of goods in urban contexts, and to minimize the multiple costs inherent in logistics operations. Inspired by an application in a medium-sized city in Latin America, this paper develops a bi-objective mixed linear integer programming (MILP) model to locate different types of urban logistics spaces (ULS) for the configuration of a two-echelon urban distribution system. The objective functions seek to minimize the costs associated with distance traveled and relocation, in addition to the costs of violation of time windows. This model considers heterogeneous transport, speed assignment, and time windows. For experimental evaluation, two operational scenarios are considered, and Pareto frontiers are obtained to identify the efficient non-dominated solutions to select the most feasible ones from such a set. A case study of a distribution company of goods for supermarkets in the city of Barranquilla, Colombia, is also used to validate the proposed model. These solutions allow decision-makers to define the configuration of ULS networks for urban product delivery.

Operations research for planning and managing city logistics systems

“…This work remains theoretical, the numerical illustration is based on instances that do not belong to a real city but show the main interests of the approach. (Ruiz-Meza et al, 2021) propose a two-tier version of the system, i.e. mono-commodity and single mode, but adding a second layer of satellites to locate in parallel to CDCs.…”

Emerging Information and Communication Technologies: the Challenges for the Dynamic Freight Management in City Logistics

“…• transport and logistics operators (transport enterprises) could optimize their choice including vehicle load, routing, and scheduling, as well as the delivery travel time in terms of last mile operations, i.e., at-customer deliveries, and their part of reverse logistics (Kin et al, 2017;Ruiz-Meza et al, 2021); • public administration, in its different levels and branches, could optimize the sustainability/liveability of the city in terms of better use of urban public space (both those destined to drive and those destined to park) with respect to all the different demand components (i.e., passengers and freight) using different mode-services (Calabrò et al, 2019;Hadavi et al, 2019;Trecozzi et al, 2022); it can be noted that the role of public administration is twofold, and from one side, it has the commitment to organize public spaces for freight vehicles driving and parking (in a strategic view and then in an off-line design); on the other side, it can have the role of supply information on park and path in real time and to manage reservation (in operational view and then in on-line management and control); therefore, the main role of emerging ICTs is linked to the dynamic real-time connection and all the new options coming from there; • retailers could optimize their restocking process and integrate the freight receiving operations within their selling activity, considering also the payments; they could also optimize their part of reverse logistics reducing their estate costs and minimizing (or nulling) the inventory cost (Gonzalez-Feliu and Peris-Pla, 2017;Rai et al, 2019); • end consumers which can benefit, from one side, as citizens for the reduction of traffic due to city logistics optimizations and for the increase of liveability due to the improvement of the safety and the reduction of pollution emissions; on the other hand, as consumers, for the availability of new delivery services (e.g., instant deliveries; Dablanc et al, 2017).…”

Consolidating Port Decarbonisation Implementation: Concept, Pathways, Barriers, Solutions, and Opportunities

“…According to a plethora of research that highlighted ports' role in cities and urban areas, including energy transition and decarbonisation, e.g., Refs. [1][2][3][4], ports play a vital role in freight transportation, serving as crucial transfer and consolidation nodes that optimize supply chains and reduce transportation costs for urban businesses. Additionally, the strategic location and role of ports in integrating global supply chains makes them indispensable elements of urban logistics, ensuring that cities remain economically robust and well-connected to the international markets.…”