Decision making for transportation systems as a support for sustainable stewardship : Freight transport process evaluation using the ETIENNE‐Tool

Purpose – The environmental impacts of transportation are rarely brought into decision making frameworks. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a framework and tool to help in these organizational decisions. Design/methodology/approach – A survey analysis was carried out amongst waste‐management companies within the project ETIENNE. Using this information, drivers and hurdles to the environmentally motivated optimization of transport were identified. Findings – This research framework presents results of perceived hurdles in transport process optimization. Results of the research are grounded with definitions and discussion of the relevance of logistic processes. Research limitations/implications – Analysis provided in this paper shows that there is no practicable tool to consider environmental impacts in management decisions in transportation. Therefore, a software tool, the so‐called ETIENNE‐Tool, for the evaluation of transportation alternatives, is developed. Theoretical principles for the environmental evaluation of transport processes are also proposed. Practical implications – Organizational tasks – such as the selection and planning of transportation relations; employment of means of transportation; planning of locations; finally performing of operative business – can be fulfilled in a more environmentally sound manner. Originality/value – Based on the ETIENNE‐Tool and taking into consideration stakeholders' requirements, different transportation chains for one transportation task can be easily compared and transportation can be planned efficiently.