Abstract
With the rise of e-commerce and door-to-door sales, last-mile deliveries are gaining more and more importance. As a result, last-mile distribution has become one of the most sensitive logistics processes due to its uniqueness, difficulties in meeting schedules, and high costs. Therefore, this work explores the use of urban consolidation centers to ease these last-mile difficulties. For that purpose, a hub in the city center of Vienna has been selected to deliver up to 150 clients disseminated by the city. This suitability is assessed by defining convenient simulation settings in order to replicate parcel demands in the city. Experiments are based in different hub-based fleets (traditional internal combustion vehicles or electric cargo bikes), demand patterns, and delivery frequency strategies by means of a biased randomization vehicle routing optimization heuristic. Results quantify the effects of having an urban consolidation center and highlight the use of electric cargo bikes for the last-mile distribution.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
