Reducing transportation greenhouse gas emissions with collaborative distribution: A case study

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the potential for improving sustainability performance in food supply networks by implementing collaborative distribution. Food supply chains generate a significant portion of CO₂ emissions, because of the large volume of food transportation and the large number and frequency of trips made to deliver food products to retail stores, making it available to the customers. Collaboration of partners in food supply chains will lead to reducing CO₂ emissions.

Design/methodology/approach
Such collaboration could be in the form of sharing trucks by retailers, to increase the fill rate of the vehicles and to reduce their empty running. A case study of the logistics network of a British company, distributing fruits and vegetables, is carried out. The company sends the products from a distribution centre to 27 retailers’ warehouses of 3 different companies in the UK. A simulation study is carried out to measure the reduced traveled distance for delivery of the products and the reduced amount of CO₂ emissions across two different scenarios, as a result of implementing collaborative distribution.

Findings
With this approach, the total CO₂ emissions are able to be reduced by at least 26 per cent.

Originality/value
The theoretical contribution of the paper is important both for showing the role of simulation and collaborative distribution for developing the green supply chain solutions management and their indicating to the applications to logistics and product delivery.