Sharing logistics in urban freight transport: a study in 5 sectors

Many new logistics initiatives arise based on the principles of resource sharing through crowdsourcing. Sharing unused and/or underused resources can deliver new efficiencies in the logistics value chain in an industry where efficiency is the name of the game. The benefits of applying sharing economy concepts in logistics in terms of higher efficiency, lower costs, less congestion and lower CO2 emissions seem easy to realize for both industry and society. While the sharing economy offers promising opportunities to start new businesses, the sharing economy is not without its challenges. Themes such as strict liability, insurance, transparency, and employee protection can hinder the progress of the sharing economy. Most difficult of all, the pace of technological innovation and social change often exceeds regulatory frameworks, resulting in banned services
and protests from those working in traditional industries. Among five sectors in urban freight transport, i.e. city logistics, construction logistics, transportation & warehousing (retail logistics), healthcare logistics, and service logistics sharing
concepts are studied over for the entire city of Rotterdam. Based on our main case study findings it can be observed that within the sectors of urban freight transport quite some differences exist with respect to the sharing maturity. Therefore a dedicated implementation plan is needed for each sector. This paper has shown what are the next steps to be taken for each sector and how the knowledge transfer can be established.