Evaluating the feasibility of a shared-fleet operation in healthcare logistics between public organisations
Evaluating the feasibility of a shared-fleet operation in healthcare logistics between public organisations
Urban logistics suffer from unique challenges due to the increasing demands of e-commerce, rising customer expectations, and the absence of centralised coordination. Shared-fleet logistics, a collaborative approach that combines loads and vehicle capacity to improve vehicle utilisation, has been proposed as a solution to address these challenges. This study aims to quantify the potential environmental and economic benefits of implementing a shared-fleet operation involving two public sector organisations. The research focuses on a specific case study using a historical dataset of vehicle movements, wherein a local authority's fleet of electric courier vehicles is shared with the National Health Service (NHS) for transporting pathology samples from 78 surgeries to the laboratory for analysis, thereby replacing the reliance on a third-party logistics provider. The benefits suggested by the results included a 17% reduction in costs, a 3% decrease in overall vehicle kilometres travelled, a 69% decrease in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a 40% reduction in vehicle numbers, and a 27% reduction in total duty time. These results emphasise the considerable potential of shared-fleet operations to alleviate both environmental and economic problems in urban logistics, encouraging public sector organisations to actively pursue the implementation of collaborative solutions to enhance the efficiency of their own-account vehicles while making positive contributions to environmental sustainability.
shared-fleet, freight pooling, horizontal collaboration, carrier collaboration, urban logistics, emissions, road congestion, public sector, healthcare
Aydemir, Ismail
2fd6cf88-6fef-44bc-85f6-70b65743b490
Mcleod, Fraser
93da13ec-7f81-470f-8a01-9339e80abe98
Grote, Matt
f29566f9-42a7-498a-9671-8661a4287754
Cherrett, Tom
e5929951-e97c-4720-96a8-3e586f2d5f95
27 October 2023
Aydemir, Ismail
2fd6cf88-6fef-44bc-85f6-70b65743b490
Mcleod, Fraser
93da13ec-7f81-470f-8a01-9339e80abe98
Grote, Matt
f29566f9-42a7-498a-9671-8661a4287754
Cherrett, Tom
e5929951-e97c-4720-96a8-3e586f2d5f95
Aydemir, Ismail, Mcleod, Fraser, Grote, Matt and Cherrett, Tom
(2023)
Evaluating the feasibility of a shared-fleet operation in healthcare logistics between public organisations.
Sustainability, 15 (21), [15361].
(doi:10.3390/su152115361).
Abstract
Urban logistics suffer from unique challenges due to the increasing demands of e-commerce, rising customer expectations, and the absence of centralised coordination. Shared-fleet logistics, a collaborative approach that combines loads and vehicle capacity to improve vehicle utilisation, has been proposed as a solution to address these challenges. This study aims to quantify the potential environmental and economic benefits of implementing a shared-fleet operation involving two public sector organisations. The research focuses on a specific case study using a historical dataset of vehicle movements, wherein a local authority's fleet of electric courier vehicles is shared with the National Health Service (NHS) for transporting pathology samples from 78 surgeries to the laboratory for analysis, thereby replacing the reliance on a third-party logistics provider. The benefits suggested by the results included a 17% reduction in costs, a 3% decrease in overall vehicle kilometres travelled, a 69% decrease in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, a 40% reduction in vehicle numbers, and a 27% reduction in total duty time. These results emphasise the considerable potential of shared-fleet operations to alleviate both environmental and economic problems in urban logistics, encouraging public sector organisations to actively pursue the implementation of collaborative solutions to enhance the efficiency of their own-account vehicles while making positive contributions to environmental sustainability.
Text
sustainability-15-15361
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 25 October 2023
Published date: 27 October 2023
Additional Information:
Funding information:
This research was funded by the EPSRC, grant number EP/V002619/1 and by the UK Department for Transport under Solent Transport’s Future Transport Zones project.
Keywords:
shared-fleet, freight pooling, horizontal collaboration, carrier collaboration, urban logistics, emissions, road congestion, public sector, healthcare
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 483278
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/483278
ISSN: 2071-1050
PURE UUID: 5ea507a5-687c-472a-bfc7-63187b72206c
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Date deposited: 27 Oct 2023 16:33
Last modified: 27 Apr 2024 02:16
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