Estimating the Sustainability Impacts of an Urban Consolidation Center in a Medium-Sized City
Επιτομή
One of the most important sectors in a city’s economy is the sector of transportation and distribution of goods. However, such operations cause several problems such as traffic congestion and environmental deterioration. Urban Consolidation Centers (UCC) are logistic platforms aiming to rationalize goods distribution by minimizing the above impacts, satisfying at the same time stakeholders’ interests, such as public authorities, supply chain stakeholders (retailers, carriers and suppliers), consumers and civilians. This paper proposes establishment of a UCC in the vicinity of the city of Volos, where trucks unload their cargo and cross-docking activities take place before goods are directed to the urban area for final distribution. Urban distribution is undertaken by green vehicles, which are assumed to replace conventional delivery trucks, in order to reduce operational costs and impacts in the city from urban distribution movements. As Volos is a medium sized city, delivery of goods by cargo bikes and green vehicles is foreseen. Traffic and system performance impacts that result from the operation of the new system are compared with the case before the UCC establishment. All impacts are combined in a sole index (Logistics Sustainability Index) which comprises the comparison of the two cases. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020.