Exploring the impact of traffic congestion on CO2 emissions in freight distribution networks

This research quantifies the impact that regular road traffic congestion has on the CO2 emissions of a real-world distribution network, and it studies the consequences when the number of distribution centers changes. For this purpose, this study makes use of a network model allowing for a detailed representation of all relevant transport operations, including production flows between factories and distribution centers, line haul shipments between distribution centers and customers, and round/delivery trips between transshipment points and retailer locations for the last mile. The processed trip and traffic information does not rely on standard traffic data collection approaches, such as interviews, in situ technologies, or floating car data, but the road traffic data are retrieved from an online navigation service, such as Bing Maps, Google Maps, Inrix, Here, and TomTom. This study proves that online navigation services may considerably contribute to future research projects analyzing CO2 sensitivities and greenhouse gas cutting opportunities in logistics networks.