Capacity-sharing in logistics solutions: A new pathway towards sustainability

摘要

The sharing economy concept - an extension of the internet of things concept - has contributed to the emergence of a new paradigm of freight transportation, where the main players are puppet masters in controlling data and not only physical assets. This new economic model is based on the use of technology to allow companies, citizens and other actors to share and monetize the excess capacity of their assets (vehicles, houses, parking spaces, etc.). The potential effects of this model are difficult to quantify, but it has been ventured that this new economic relationship will yield greater efficiency to businesses across the world, especially in the supply chain and city logistics processes. Such prospect relies on the fact that it is based on the provision of opportunities to monetize resources that already exist, instead of creating additional infrastructures in order to meet the demand. In this context, the application of the shared economy model to logistics brings up concepts of logistics sharing capacity. Logistics sharing capacity assumes the access and sharing of operational capabilities, either by vehicle sharing, by vehicle capacity sharing, sharing warehousing or infrastructure sharing.The potential of logistic sharing solutions and respective transport capabilities to reduce emissions and mitigate the transport sector's impacts on climate change comes along with benefits to companies with the reduction of overall operating expenses, by reducing transport costs per kilogram and cutting maintenance and personnel costs, as fewer assets are needed. To the public sector, the benefits are still mostly felt in terms of environment as a consequence of the more effective use of resources. In fact, in spite the recent emergence of logistics sharing solutions, the topic has not been sufficiently explored under a perspective that: a) highlights the role that municipalities can play to benefit from the sharing economy model and; b) analyzes case studies in which municipalities provide owned assets to be shared by logistics players.The objective of this paper is to contribute to reduce that hiatus on research by assessing the impact of logistic sharing solutions under a public good perspective. Therefore, the paper analyses the potential impacts of promoting the shared usage of logistic parking infrastructure owned by public authorities. As a demonstration of that potential, the possible benefits of sharing parking spaces dedicated to urban logistics operations by other users were studied, in particular the parents taking children to kindergartens located in the area. The paper is supported by a case study carried out in a Portuguese city and the effects are quantified in metrics of transport performance, energy and environmental criteria. The scenario is compared to a baseline situation (BAU) and results show significant reductions in delay times, travel times, queue lengths and stopped times and increases in average speeds. Also, fuel consumption and emissions present considerable reductions in the tested scenario. As a result, the paper concludes that municipalities can take advantage of a sharing economy context, in which logistics sharing solutions can be exploited, by using their assets in a joint and more effective way. Those benefits are translated into the reduction of externalities and improvement of the quality of life in the city and, therefore, municipalities benefit from playing an active role in the emergent context of a sharing economy.