Rural Parcel Delivery

While studies and projects typically focus on optimizing last-mile distributions in cities, rural residents tend to make more online purchases, yet face inefficient delivery of their parcels.

Shops in rural areas are usually located along regional roads or in the village center, resulting in high economic and social costs due to long distances and delivery times. Additionally, traffic congestion is not exclusive to large cities, as regional roads and village centers also experience congestion. The typical Flemish spatial planning with ribbon development and dispersed habitation exacerbates this issue.

Results

• VIL has developed a comprehensive solution that addresses economic, ecological, and social aspects. The designed model evaluates the overall costs, CO2 emissions, transport distance, and the total number of transport movements under various scenarios of collaborative partnerships among the involved parties.
• Collaboration for last-mile deliveries in rural areas has proven to be successful and beneficial. On average, there is a 60% reduction in CO2 emissions and the number of transport movements, while costs are decreased by an average of 35%. Furthermore, it has been discovered that small parties can not only benefit financially from cooperation but also enhance their commercial influence.
• Despite the numerous advantages, several factors may hinder the implementation of the Rural Parcel Delivery model. These include the risk of blurring the brand image, the potential loss of competitive advantage for larger parties, and the impartiality of a shared subcontractor in the case of consolidation.
• VIL is capable of supporting interested companies in researching and establishing their own collaborative case.