Last Mile Parcel Delivery Model through the Public Transportation Network : Brussels Case Study based on the Physical Internet

Details

Supervisors

Agrell, Per Joakim

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] en ingénieur de gestion

Abstract

On the one hand, cities tend to reduce congestion and air pollution. On the other hand, e-commerce is growing fast which increases the demand for home deliveries and puts a strain on last-mile logistics. A common ground needs to be found for these two contradictory facts. What-if parcel deliveries could happen without any additional vehicles driving into the city ? This is the question to which this thesis attends to answer by proposing a joined passenger and parcel transport system. Inspired by the Physical Internet, a set of connected containers will be moved through the city public transport services from a depot at the edge to a stop in the city center. There, they will be stored in a locker terminal where customers will be able to open it and get their parcels. This system will thus use the idle capacity outside peak-hours of the already planned public transport trips to move parcels around. This thesis aims to model such a network and propose an operational framework. Based on the city of Brussels, it will locate the depots, hubs and lockers such as creating an efficient network to deliver these parcels on time. It will also test such system with the schedule of Brussels public transport operator and by simulating parcel demands in Brussels.