Improving freight operations in urban areas through the implementation of the "time window" logistics concept

Abstract

The war in Ukraine has created a series of obstacles for the normal functioning of the transportation and logistics system, fundamentally altering the logistics supply chains in international, national, urban, and interurban connections. The displacement of people to safer territories has led to the formation of negative transportation effects. So, in 2020, the population of the city of Valky (Ukraine) community was 30,791 people, and due to military actions on the territory of Ukraine, the number of community residents increased by 20,000 people due to resettlement. This situation has exacerbated existing transportation problems: increased levels of motorization, massive chaotic parking of vehicles, improper parking and unloading of freight vehicles, timeliness of delivery of goods, etc., ultimately contributing to the overload of the central part of the city, hindrances, and restrictions on the movement of urban, interurban, personal, and specialized transport, affecting the decrease in the level of traffic safety, increasing the level of environmental pollution. All of this has led to a decrease in the quality of life and dissatisfaction among the residents of the city of Valky.

The main goal of the urban area functioning is to improve the quality of life of its residents and city guests. Therefore, ensuring uninterrupted supply of goods and cargo is vital to meet their needs. A solution to the existing problems of organizing the movement of urban freight flows in the city of Valk, which affects the quality of life of the city’s population, is proposed by introducing the logistics concept of “time window”. The conducted modeling of the functioning of the transport network when applying the logistics concept “time window”, the resulting change in the parameters of urban freight flows indicates that the redistribution of freight transport work affects the congestion of the transport network during the day, helps reduce the intensity of vehicle traffic during peak hours, and avoids critically negative traffic load factors, which justifies the feasibility of introducing this concept. Hourly restrictions implemented under the time window concept can lead to positive effects but can also create challenges for the business in terms of flexibility in supply planning and operating costs. Finding a balance between these factors is important for creating sustainable and efficient urban logistics systems.

Key words: freight transport, transport network, logistics concept, time window, freight intensity, transport work.