Environmental Impact of Bundling Transport Deliveries Using SUMO: Analysis of a cooperative approach in Austria

Abstract: Urban Traffic is recognized as one of the major CO2 contributors that puts a high burden on the environment. Different attempts have been made for reducing the impacts ranging from traffic management actions to shared-vehicle concepts to simply reducing the number of vehicles on the streets. By relying on cooperative approaches between different logistics companies, such as sharing and pooling resources for bundling deliveries in the same zone, an increased environmental benefit can be attained. To quantify this benefit we compare the CO2 emissions, fuel consumption and total delivery time resulting from deliveries performed by one cargo truck with two trailers versus by two single-trailer cargo trucks under real conditions in a simulation scenario in the city of Linz in Austria. Results showed a fuel consumption and CO2 emissions reduction of 28% and 34% respectively in the scenario in which resources were bundled in one single truck.