Evaluating the impact of off-hour deliveries: An application of the TRansport Agent-BAsed model

The expected growth of freight transport should affect the performances of the transport system if the industry keeps with the business as usual. Especially urban settings suffer from congestion and air pollution. Shifting deliveries to the night is considered as one promising solution to alleviate the growing congestion and emissions generated by freight transport. In order to check the compatibility of night deliveries with its local environment, research has been mostly focused on the analysis of trials and on the impacts it has at a micro level. This paper aims at analysing the impact of night distribution at a macro level. It evaluates the contribution of off hour deliveries on the performances of the transport system. The paper will use TRABAM, a freight transport agent based model, to simulate the impact of different use of night distribution in supermarkets. The organisation of the freight flows resulting from the new time constraints is then evaluated according the externalities generated by these flows. The analysis shows that a distribution where deliveries are possible only during the day performs the worst since it generates the highest external costs. The business as usual gives already some good performances since night distribution is already used by some supermarkets in Wallonia. But the scenario where a maximum of one delivery per night is allowed to supermarkets is found to be the best trade-off between the benefits and drawbacks of night distribution.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2018.02.003
• Record URL:
  • http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S136192091630743X
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/13619209
• Supplemental Notes:
  • © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Abstract reprinted with permission of Elsevier.
• Authors:
  • Mommens, K
  • Lebeau, P
  • Verlinde, S
  • van Lier, T
  • Macharis, C
• Publication Date: 2018-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; References;
• Pagination: pp 102-111
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
  • Volume: 62
  • Issue Number: 0
  • Publisher: Elsevier
  • ISSN: 1361-9209
  • Serial URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/13619209

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Delivery service; Mathematical models; Night; Off peak periods; Physical distribution; Sustainable transportation
• Uncontrolled Terms: Agent based models
• Geographic Terms: Wallonia (Belgium)
• Subject Areas: Environment; Freight Transportation; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01678097
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Aug 20 2018 9:22AM