Microsimulation-Based Collaboration Model for Urban Freight Transport

The different stakeholders involved in urban freight transport, their behaviours, and interactions are attracting the attention of researchers and practitioners in logistics and freight transport, pushed by the need to develop methods and models for assessing ex ante actions/measures to improve the logistics process performance. Besides, the large amounts of data currently available open up new opportunities, as well as the possibility of using them to review past operations and provide suggestions and guidelines for future decision-making. In this context, to improve city sustainability and liveability, the cooperation and coordination among transport and logistics operators have been some of the measures for optimizing freight operations, with a subsequent reduction in vehicles and traffic impacts. Therefore, opportunities arise to point out the stakeholders' decentralised collaboration and the dynamic information driving urban logistics operations. In this context, this paper presents a microsimulation model framework to support the operational decision-making of an urban supply chain that makes the most of such cooperation and coordination and appropriately responds to the dynamic changes of demand and supply. The model was first tested using data collected in the urban area of Medellin, Colombia and we obtained satisfactory results that show the benefits of implementing such modelling framework to support decision making policies.