1,721,013 research outputs found
Urban consolidation centres and competition among logistics service providers in a Hotelling approach
No full textUrban cities are affected by negative externalities coming from urban mobility and goods distribution, such as air pollution and traffic congestion. In recent years, many European municipalities had introduced market-based measures, aiming at externalities’ internalisation, such as vehicle pollution charges (e.g., the Ecopass system in Milan, the Low Emission Zones in London, etc.) together with structural solutions which, however, end up adding complexity (i.e., transhipment, delivery times, handling costs, etc.) to urban supply chains, such as the introduction of urban consolidation centres (UCCs) to cover last mile deliveries. By using a simple Hotelling spatial model, we analyse the effect of semi-public UCCs on urban competition among logistics service providers (LSPs) assuming heterogeneous urban retailers with respect to demand elasticity to delivery times. We show that for increasing public shares/interests into UCCs' ownership (implying lower service costs), LSPs that apply for UCC-based services are likely to increase their market shares even if competition among LSPs is relatively low (i.e., high differentiation) and retailers' demand elasticity to delivery times is relatively high. From a normative perspective, our framework does confirm that pollution charges and semi-public UCCs are substitutes in order to promote a more environmental-friendly urban freight logistics
Determinanti della scelta modale nei percorsi casa-Università: differenze territoriali ed implicazioni di policy
No full textLe abitudini del pendolarismo universitario e la propensione al cambiamento. Il caso dell'Università degli Studi dell'Insubria
No full textTo develop sustainable communities, car dominance in commuting habits and low
propension to eco-friendly means, especially in small and medium towns, are problems that
need an urgent solution. With the aim to map modal choices and evaluate the usage of
public transit in central and suburban poles of attraction, data of the Mobility Survey of the
University of Insubria are used. While cars are dominant in suburban sites (Varese),
collective means have a higher usage in central sites (Como). By testing the evaluation of
public transit in both cities, we confirm that free parking and low-quality collective
transports are crucial factors that limit sustainable modal changes in these poles
Proximity to public transportation and sustainable commuting to college. A case study of an Italian suburban campus
No full textAs sustainability has become a key and urgent challenge both in urban and suburban contexts, in the last years commuting patterns of university populations have received a growing attention from scholars and policymakers. Urgent solutions are required to improve the people quality of life, by encouraging, especially in systematic mobility, the use of alternative and greener transport modes than private vehicles. In this paper we examine, as a case study, the students and staff commuting habits of a public medium-size university campus that is located in a peripheral area of the city of Varese (north-west of Italy) far from the rail and extra-urban bus stations and with many green spaces. Using data from a survey on a sample of more than 1800 respondents, the goal of this paper is to investigate, by a multinomial logit model, the main determinants of the commuting mode (car, bus, train and carpooling) and the car dominance motivations, particularly focusing on the spatial/trip factors. The main results highlight the crucial role of public transport (bus and train stops and stations) proximity both in medium-short and long-distance trips. Other factors affecting the mode choice concern the commuter age and partially the gender, the frequency and length of the trips. Differently from the results of the empirical literature about urban colleges, we found a positive correlation between the distance and the use of train. The findings of this study could help the policymakers to identify the most effective sustainable transport policies, for example introducing parking fees and increasing the public transit accessibility
Understanding the impact of demand shocks on the container port industry
No full textThe Covid-19 pandemic has severely impacted the world economy, generating an unprecedented shock that pushed carriers to adapt to the collapse of demand. Most of the related adaptation actions (e.g., blank sailings) appear as temporary initiatives being insufficient to reach a long run equilibrium. Moreover, while carriers managed to adjust their own supplied capacity to the ongoing crisis, the port sector has been greatly impacted by the fall in transport demand, not being able to counteract the demand shortages as effectively as the carriers. Against this backdrop, the paper introduces a model for assessing the effects of demand shocks (e.g., due to the pandemic) on the integration strategies of carriers. We focus on the possible initiatives that demand shocks may trigger on the horizontal and vertical integration among the actors of the shipping industry. In doing so, the present study provides useful insights for better understanding potential future market modifications and their impact on social welfare. Using non-cooperative games, profit-maximising strategies, in case of such integrations, are compared in order to study how carriers and terminal operators might react to demand shocks in the medium and long run
Spillover Effects Between Urban and Non-Urban Cycling Tourism in Italy. What Is the Role of Public Transport?
Full text linkCycling tourism gained a growing popularity in non-urban travel experiences, but the use of eventual complementary motorised vehicles may generate emissions, negatively impacting the environment. The paper, focusing on the role of public transport for intra-and inter-destination trips, has a twofold objective. First, it aims to identify the different determinants of the destination choice by bikers, considering both urban and non-urban
places. Second, it investigates whether the choice of urban destinations might influence the decision of varying the frequency of cycling in non-urban places. By using primary data from an Italian survey on cycling tourism in 2020, the work outlines unobserved effects and reveals the existence of a behavioural spillover effect that is enhanced when cycling tourists use public transport. Thus, public and private investments in transport services are needed to connect urban and non-urban tourism destinations, attracting more tourists to non-urban places
Reducing the carbon footprint in college mobility: The car commuters' perspective in an Italian case study
No full textDespite the negative environmental impact of private cars, especially when driven alone, thousands of college commuters around the World are still car dependent. In order to promote eco-friendly commuting and reduce the GHGs caused by cars, different Travel Demand Management (TDM) policies are in place at many colleges, but they do not usually consider the car commuters' point of view when identifying proper measures. In this paper, by using survey data from an Italian medium-size public university, we study what TDM policies are perceived by car users as the most effective in reducing the number of solo-drivers and consequently their carbon footprint. By estimating a multinomial logit model, we found that restrictive parking policies are statistically supported by female car commuters, students and employees belonging to science departments, and those who know that driving alone could impede alternative modes. Indeed, transit-oriented and multimodal options (including bikes) are chosen by faculty/staff car users, by users willing to leave their cars at home when the weather is good, and in general by people living in towns without railway stations. Instead, probably due to inadequate rail services, car users living in areas far from the college are weakly inclined to use transit-plus-bikes modes. Beyond improving TDM policies, these results can help mobility managers design localized tools to reduce the environmental impact of college commuting
Merger waves and alliance stability in container shipping
No full textRecently, the container shipping industry has been witnessing a wave of new mergers and reshuffling of cooperation agreements (alliances), which have heavily affected the market. This development has also taken place among vertically integrated carriers, thus affecting not just the shipping side of the business, but the different supply chains as well. By using non-cooperative merger control games, featuring carriers involved in strategic alliances and competition authorities, this paper analyses the impact of the vertical integration of carriers and terminal operators on the stability of alliances. Starting from a benchmark set-up where carriers and stevedores are separated, we first find that when the integration concerns merging carriers only, alliance stability is undermined because non-merging allied carriers are more likely to register losses due to market share reductions and possibly higher terminal tariffs. However, by assuming that alliance agreements are extended to terminal operations, for all the allied partners, we show that alliances might be more stable, since non-merging carriers are vertically integrated as well and can internalize terminal charges. Given the on-going trends of consolidations in container shipping, this last hypothesis implies that merger waves might still occur without the breaking down of alliances, as long as landside cooperation among carriers along the supply chain, is also considered
Il ruolo della logistics social responsibility per la sostenibilità nella movimentazione delle merci
Full text linkNegli ultimi anni ha assunto particolare interesse il concetto di logistics social responsibility, inteso come un insieme di pratiche di sostenibilità che perseguono lo scopo principale di ricercare soluzioni efficienti nell’organizzazione della supply chain e, nello stesso tempo, disegnare strategie per una mobilità delle merci a basso impatto ambientale e orientata al riutilizzo dei materiali, secondo i paradigmi dell’economia circolare. In questo contributo, dopo aver delineato il recente adattamento della corporate social responsibility ai settori della logistica, evidenziando la prevalente tassonomia delle annesse pratiche manageriali, viene analizzato un filone di letteratura prospettico, che aggiunge al tema della sostenibilità logistica quelli del packaging e dello stoccaggio sostenibili. Questa rilettura critica di una letteratura settoriale, che evolve in parallelo alle declinazioni della mobilità sostenibile nel trasporto delle merci, persegue il duplice obiettivo di mappare le direzioni concettuali della logistics social responsibility e, in particolare, di prospettare filoni di ricerca connessi alla supply chain e di orientare possibili interventi di policy dei decision-makers pubblici e privati
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