A Sustainable Two-Echelon Logistics Model with Shipment Consolidation

Abstract

Shipment consolidation is a concept in logistics management in which two or more shipments are transported by using the same vehicle with the aim of using less resources. The objective of this manuscript is to study shipment consolidation and assess its impact on cost environment, to achieve this, a mathematical model was developed to optimise shipment consolidation while reducing the emissions and minimising the costs. A case study from major dairy products manufacturers in Egypt was used to validate the model and evaluate the outcomes. A comparison was made between two transportation models, with and without consolidation. Results show that shipment consolidation reduced the total costs by 40% in addition to consuming less fuel, and consequently producing less emissions. These findings emphasise on the importance of shipment consolidation and how it can be used to achieve more sustainability in logistics management.