E-commerce Distribution Network Capacity Planning and Supply Chain Modelling

承运商一直面临着在其运输网络中为低于卡车的货物(LTL)和包裹递送分配容量的挑战。挑战源于这样一个事实，即依赖于体积密度、尺寸和处理的重量限制标准和定价方案不断变化，这反过来又会影响盈利能力。 LTL货物通常是不装满卡车的几个托盘货物，而包裹是没有托盘的单个包裹或包裹，与LTL相比，它们在卡车上占用的空间明显更小。此外，包裹通常用较小的卡车装载，以便向最终客户完成最后一英里的递送。由于电子零售，包裹业务量多年来大幅增长。2018年，全球包裹发货量为870亿件，2025年，预计发货量为2000亿件。 考虑到处理来自包裹的LTL负载的不同，运营商通常为每种类型的服务使用专用机队。不幸的是，这意味着卡车将得不到充分利用，运输成本将增加。通常情况下，运输成本占总物流成本的65%，因此必须尽一切努力尽可能降低这一成本。 这项研究旨在为运营商开发一个决策模型，以支持运力分配和收入管理方面的运营、战术和战略决策。也就是说，在运输能力固定的情况下，承运人应该如何最优地分配LTL和包裹货物，以最大限度地提高卡车的利用率并降低其成本。这项研究将探讨在一辆卡车上混合装载LTL和包裹的可行性。

Carriers constantly face the challenge of allocating capacity for Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) and parcel deliveries in their transportation network. The challenge stems from the fact that standards for weight limits and pricing schemes that are dependent on volume density, dimensions, and handling keep changing, and this in turn has an impact on profitability. LTL loads are usually several pallet loads of goods that do not fill up a truck, whereas parcels are individual packages or parcels that are not palletized, and take up significantly less space on a truck when compared to LTL's. Furthermore, parcels are usually loaded on smaller trucks in order to do the last mile delivery to the end customer. The volume of the parcel business has increased dramatically over the years thanks to e-retailing. In 2018, 87 billion parcels were shipped globally, and in 2025, the volume is estimated to be 200 billion. Given the differences in handling LTL loads from parcels, it is typical for carriers to use a dedicated fleet for each type of service. Unfortunately, this means that trucks will not be fully utilized, and the cost of transportation will increase. Typically, transportation costs represent 65% of the total logistics costs, and it is imperative that every effort is made to reduce this cost as much as possible. The research aims to develop a decision-making model for carriers to support operations, tactical, and strategic decisions regarding capacity allocation and revenue management. That is, given a fixed transportation capacity, how should a carrier optimally allocate LTL and parcel loads in order to maximize the utilization of the trucks and reduce their costs. The research will look into the feasibility of mixing LTL and parcels loads in a single truck.