A simulative assessment of collaborative last mile delivery solutions

Abstract

Collaborative last mile solutions, such as the collaborative use of parcel lockers, jointly used logistics facilities in inner-city area, and white-label delivery play an increasing role to alleviate inefficiencies particularly caused by failed home delivery attempts and generated externalities associated with last mile deliveries. However, there is limited research on the impacts of collaborative delivery approaches in last mile logistics. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to assess the impacts of collaborative delivery solutions on freight transport, transport costs and emissions. For this purpose, a synthetic world for the City of Hamburg, Germany, has been built up focusing on the parcel market with respectively parcel service providers (PSP) as well as their private and commercial customers. Based on this, a reference scenario and four collaborative distribution scenarios (white-label PSP - direct delivery, white-label PSP - collaborative use of parcel stations, collaborative use of micro-depots, white-label PSP - collaborative use of micro-depots and vehicles used) are developed which are simulated by the microscopic agent-based transport simulation MATSim and the linked route optimization Jsprit. Results strongly indicate that positive transport-related, business and environmental impacts could be achieved through the implementation of collaborative delivery solutions.