Nicolas Malhéné

Optimization of a city logistics transportation system with mixed passengers and goods

In this paper, we propose a mathematical model and an adaptive large neighborhood search to solve a two-tiered transportation problem. This problem arises in a prospective study that aims at designing an innovative distribution system for goods in congested city cores. In the first tier, goods are transported in city buses from a consolidation and distribution center to a set of bus stops. The main idea is to use the buses spare capacity to drive the goods to the city core. In the second tier, final customers are distributed by a fleet of near-zero emissions city freighters. This system requires transferring the goods from buses to city freighters at the bus stops. We model the corresponding optimization problem as a variant of the pickup and delivery problem with transfers and solve it with an adaptive large neighborhood search. To evaluate its results, lower bounds are calculated with a column generation approach. The algorithm is assessed on data sets derived from a field study in the medium-sized city of La Rochelle in France.

The deployment of city and area distribution centers in France and Italy: Comparison of six representative models

In this article, we propose a critical overview of the deployment of urban distribution centers (UDCs) in France and Italy. We focus on two categories of UDCs: those deployed to deliver to the city and located in peripheral areas and those located close to a specific area to serve it. Starting from an initial typology of experiments, obtained from a systematic analysis of 34 experiences (18 in France and 16 in Italy), we orient the study towards the analysis of six models of cooperative strategies set up to reach an economic viability of these platforms. Those models are studied on a four-element grid: steering, organization, development, and financing. The defined typology and the analysis of the six types of cases enabled us to determine the main elements that influence the search for economic viability in urban consolidation and distribution platforms.

Logistics Pooling for City Supply

This paper is the editorial to the Vol. 15, n° 4 of Supply Chain Forum: An International Journal. This is a special issue on logistics pooling for city supply. This paper motivates the special issue, positioning the volume with respect to current or near-past works and presents the set of selected papers included in the issue.

Traceability in collaborative logistics: How to use EPCglobal solution in transport reconfiguration

This paper presents a flexible and collaborative transport organization, developed in the French PRODIGE project and based on two new paradigms: product-oriented routing problems and smart products. Reconfiguration of transportation being supported by opportunistic transshipment between different vehicles, the use of EPCglobal network is discussed as an efficient and agile method to guarantee no break in the traceability chain.

Shared passengers and goods urban transport solutions

Urban goods transport, long considered not to be a priority issue, seems to be attracting interest today not only by traditional actors, such as local administrations and logistics firms, but also by new actors, such as local public sector transport companies. The first part defines the concept of shared passenger and goods urban transport and describes the existing solutions by means of an international survey. An analysis is then made of the experiences of pioneering European urban transport operators and finally economic factors are examined along with the conditions which could make those solutions an interesting alternative to the traditional provision of logistics services. Finally, possible scenarios for Milan are proposed, based on an analysis of the urban transport system of this regional capital. Il trasporto urbano delle merci, a lungo considerato come un problema non prioritario, sembra oggi attirare interesse non solo da parte degli attori tradizionali, come le amministrazioni locali e le imprese logistiche, ma anche da parte di nuovi attori, quali le aziende del trasporto pubblico locale. Nella prima parte e definito il concetto di trasporto urbano congiunto di passeggeri e merci e sono descritte le soluzioni esistenti, attraverso una survey a scala internazionale. Sono successivamente analizzate le esperienze di operatori europei pionieri nel trasporto urbano e vengono, infine, esaminati i fattori economici e le condizioni che potrebbero rendere tali soluzioni un’alternativa interessante alla produzione tradizionale di servizi logistici. Infine, sono proposti alcuni possibili scenari per Milano, ipotizzati a partire dall’analisi del sistema di trasporto urbano del capoluogo lombardo.