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A Sustainable Approach to Delivery Logistics

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 4202

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, School of Engineering, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
Interests: optimization by operations research methods; heuristic optimization; simulation applied to the design, modeling, and performance evaluation of systems, particularly logistic networks

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Guest Editor
Robotics, Vision & Control Group, School of Engineering, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
Interests: artificial intelligence

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Guest Editor
Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, School of Engineering, University of Seville, Seville, Spain
Interests: real options; neural networks; logistics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, we have become increasingly aware of the socioeconomic impact of the development of energy storage systems, partly driven by the development of batteries used in mobile devices and the search for cleaner fuel-production systems, such as hydrogen.

In the field of people transport, this means a real revolution at the urban level, where electric cars, scooters, and bicycles are increasingly being used.

At the peri-urban level, developments are more limited, with the use of electric trains and gas-powered transport being the least polluting alternatives implemented.

However, to achieve a complete transition to the assumptions established by the United Nations in terms of sustainable development, we cannot neglect the impact of freight transport within and outside the city. Today's economic growth and rising living standards have led to a disproportionate growth in the use of both last-mile logistics and intercity networks. It is the right time to create and develop sustainable ideas in this area.

It is in this context that this Special Issue, “A Sustainable approach to delivery logistics”, was born, with the aim of highlighting the emerging contributions in this field.

One of the alternatives that has had more of an impact in recent years, and is presented as an important idea for the future, is drone delivery. Therefore, the current Special Issue will include all aspects related to sustainability and drones applied to logistics.

Submissions of studies that highlight advantages in relation to sustainability are welcome. These may include, but are not limited to, the following areas:

  • Studies on the logistical advantages and challenges of delivery with drones or UAVs.
  • Studies on the combined or intermodal use of drones and other vehicle delivery.
  • An evaluation of the impact on sustainability of the use of hybrid fleets (electric and fuel) for logistics delivery.

The research areas may be of economic types, the development of heuristics, matheuristics, and simulation. Case studies that provide solutions to specific experiences are also welcome for submission.

Dr. Pedro L. Gonzalez-R
Dr. Jose L. Andrade-Pineda
Dr. Jose M. Leon-Blanco
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • delivery
  • logistics
  • optimization
  • drone
  • UAV
  • low-emission mobility
  • transport
  • routing
  • networks planning
  • planning the deployment of services

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

25 pages, 1216 KiB  
Article
A Novel Two-Phase Approach for Optimization of the Last-Mile Delivery Problem with Service Options
by Nima Pourmohammadreza and Mohammad Reza Akbari Jokar
Sustainability 2023, 15(10), 8098; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15108098 - 16 May 2023
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2199
Abstract
As the growth of e-commerce continues to accelerate, there is a need for new and innovative strategies in last-mile delivery to meet the changing demands of customers. The main objective of this study is to address this need by optimizing the last-mile delivery [...] Read more.
As the growth of e-commerce continues to accelerate, there is a need for new and innovative strategies in last-mile delivery to meet the changing demands of customers. The main objective of this study is to address this need by optimizing the last-mile delivery problem with service options (LMDPSOs) through a novel two-phase approach that considers various delivery options such as home delivery, self-pickup, and delivery at different prices. This original approach enables simultaneous optimization of the selection of the most appropriate pickup and delivery points and determination of the most efficient vehicle routing. The LMDPSOs reduces overall costs, minimizes environmental impact, and considers customer satisfaction levels by determining the most appropriate trips according to the available service options. This research employs a two-phase methodology for decision making. The first phase determines the value of the proposed locations through a novel multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach that incorporates sustainability criteria. In the second phase, a tailored mathematical model is proposed for vehicle routing with service options. The model is coded in the CPLEXsoftware version 12.6 in various dimensions. We evaluate the potential and advantages of diverse delivery choices, illustrating that aggregating orders at pickup and delivery points can reduce delivery costs and minimize environmental impact. Additionally, this paper directs managers in selecting the most appropriate delivery method for last-mile delivery, considering environmental, social, and economic factors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue A Sustainable Approach to Delivery Logistics)
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30 pages, 2239 KiB  
Article
Design and Assessment of an Urban Circular Combined Truck–Drone Delivery System Using Continuum Approximation Models and Integer Programming
by David Canca, Belén Navarro-Carmona and José Luis Andrade-Pineda
Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13459; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013459 - 18 Oct 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1638
Abstract
The analysis of tandem truck–drone delivery systems has recently attracted the attention of the research community, mainly focused on extending classical operational research problems such as the multiple traveling salesperson or the vehicle-routing problem. In this paper, we explore the design of an [...] Read more.
The analysis of tandem truck–drone delivery systems has recently attracted the attention of the research community, mainly focused on extending classical operational research problems such as the multiple traveling salesperson or the vehicle-routing problem. In this paper, we explore the design of an urban massive combined delivery system using a continuum approximation (CA) method for a circular city characterized by a certain density of customers. Starting from a set of parameters defining the main characteristics of trucks and drones, a sectorization of the delivery area is first determined. Then, for a given truck capacity, the optimal number of trucks is obtained considering different scenarios using three integer programming models. We propose several performance indicators to compare the tandem approach with the alternative solely truck delivery system. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue A Sustainable Approach to Delivery Logistics)
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