Sustainable Logistics

Logistics is essential to support the economic development of any region. However, logistic operations also create significant nuisances for society, like congestion, emissions, noise, etc. Within this book, a number of papers are collected that deal with ways to come to more sustainable logistics. The papers have been selected by the editors at the 12th NECTAR International Meeting in the Azores, the 25th The Nordic Logistics Research Network (NOFOMA) in Gothenburg and the 13th World Conference of Transport Research (WCTR) in Rio de Janeiro in 2013 and were further adapted to fit the purpose of this book. Sustainable logistics takes into account the economic, environmental and social dimension of the activity. The book is structured along the 4 A's of sustainable logistics: Awareness, Avoidance, Act and shift and Anticipation of new technologies. Within the Awareness part, papers are dealing with how we can make shippers, logistics service providers and governments more aware of the external effects the logistics activities have on society. The second A, avoidance looks at ways to avoid unnecessary vehicle kilometres by improving the packaging or by bundling of freight flows. In the third A, Acting and shifting, several possibilities to shift towards more environmental modes or during the night hours are discussed. The anticipation of new technologies, at the end discusses the possibilities of new technologies to improve the sustainability of the logistic chain.