Evaluation of environmental and operational impacts of a delivery system with parcel lockers

Abstract

Many local authorities have enforced vehicle access restrictions to improve air quality and liveability in urban areas, prompting changes in last-mile delivery to increase the sustainability of the system. This paper aims to quantify the environmental and operational efficiency of a delivery system with parcel lockers. We consider a company operating in the Municipality of Padova (Italy), with an heterogeneous fleet and a given subset of lockers. The lockers' demand is estimated, and a traffic simulation model is implemented to evaluate the traffic conditions in the road network. Pollutant emissions generated by freight vehicles were quantified. The distribution problem is modelled as a vehicle routing problem with or without split delivery. Multiple scenarios are tested, considering the quantitative and spatial changes in the lockers to be served. The results show that the split delivery system decreases the generalised cost for the company and the CO2 emissions.