Sustainability in Logistics

Stemming from the UAE’s keenness to lead in everything related to sustainability issues in line with Dubai Vision 2030, and due to its possession of a solid structure of environmentally friendly skyscrapers, in conjunction with its adoption of the latest advanced technologies to digitize its operations and launch smart mobility resources, today it has become necessary to ask How exactly can vertical urbanization in the UAE affect sustainable logistics operations?

The number of high-rise residential buildings in the Emirate of Dubai reached about 581166 housing units (79%) in 2020, and this type is considered common in the emirate. This number continues to increase as the city expands its real estate horizons. Given the large number of people living in these high-rise residential towers, there is a high probability of receiving multiple requests from each of these towers. This in turn reduces the time it takes for road delivery agents to deliver an order, as well as the advantage of reducing the number of trips and distance traveled, which reduces carbon emissions to meet delivery obligations. When compared with other cities with horizontal infrastructure, this proves to be more effective while supporting the government’s efforts to work towards achieving sustainability goals.

This concept is supported and reinforced by Dubai’s multi-centered city approach, whereby a multi-centered city is an area with three or more clusters of buildings that are much higher than the surrounding urban fabric. Skyscraper neighborhoods have become the meeting point of residential communities, such as Downtown Dubai, Jumeirah Lake Towers, Business Bay, Palm Jumeirah and many other neighborhoods, covering the most important parts of the infrastructure of the city at the present time, and it also contributes to reducing travel time to complete deliveries in those complexes. While the number of deliveries will increase significantly, this will lead to the aspiration of shorter delivery distances to be a priority for smart mobility concepts, such as driverless shuttle vehicles, electric bicycles, etc. feasible.

61% of logistics and transportation organizations consider the last mile of journeys to be the most costly in the entire logistics service delivery process.

Delivery is an important component of the online shopping experience. For example, 64% of customers want to know the ETA of their order, 28% of customers rely on delivery time to determine the quality of a retailer, and 61% of customers decide to continue shopping from the brand if they have a pleasant delivery experience. . Consequently, delivery services have become an important and vital element in consolidating a competitive advantage in the e-commerce sector and the retail industry.

Many companies provide same-day delivery services to their customers who are looking for faster and easier delivery options. This in turn has resulted in delivery partners increasing the number of vehicles on the road for them and the number of trips to meet service level agreements for same-day delivery, thus increasing their carbon emissions.

In addition, one of the main reasons for concern is the increase in fuel prices, as it inflates the overall costs of logistics. Accordingly, companies are forced to pay more money per mile traveled, which negatively and directly affects their profits. Failure to meet such a challenge may result in the cost burden being shifted to the consumer, which can affect customer loyalty. Moreover, 65% of consumers in the Middle East have become environmentally friendly during the pandemic period, as they engage in sustainable behaviours. Nowadays, it is normal to see customers buying brands that focus on the concept of sustainability.

In order to overcome ever-evolving customer expectations and unprecedented changes, companies must invest in innovative and accelerated technologies. Such solutions can improve operational efficiency and reduce costs while driving sustainable logistics operations.

The Intelligent Logistics Management platform digitizes the product journey, allowing companies to work on improving logistics shortfalls. Digital documentation eliminates paperwork, in addition to the work of path optimization and planning engines powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop the plan for the most efficient way in logistics operations. This, in turn, reduces time on the road, as smart lane optimization tools eliminate vacant miles and reduce distance traveled by 5%, while preventing vehicle slowdowns and reducing trip numbers by approximately 6%.

Accurate estimated delivery time with real-time tracking and flexibility in deliveries enables customers to stay up-to-date during the delivery process or request to reschedule deliveries to their preferred intervals. This will help logistics stakeholders increase their first delivery success rate while reducing the number of multiple delivery retries, trip numbers and CO2 emissions.

Such solutions also enable delivery operators to configure and prioritize the choice of eco-friendly, often short delivery routes, which is preferred given Dubai’s multi-center city model. Using this pre-feed logic, the system automatically allocates bikes, electric vehicles or driverless vehicles for short-distance deliveries.

One of the major obstacles faced by courier delivery service providers is the poor quality of the address or the inability of the driver to reach the customer’s location on time. This, in turn, leads to increased fuel consumption and increased CO2 emissions. Accordingly, 51% of shoppers resort to returning their orders that do not arrive on time, which results in wasting all the logistical efforts made.

Geocoding helps to convert poor quality addresses into accurate coordinates, as this appears as a clear line on the electronic application on the driver’s phone, which leads directly to the customer’s specified location.

Another way to boost delivery performance is automated capacity planning, where AI logistics management tools take advantage of smart algorithms that seamlessly map vehicle and shipment data. It can also increase the vehicle’s capacity by taking into account criteria such as delivery location, weight, size, delivery time, type of storage, etc., which contributes to improving the efficiency of the delivery capacity without impeding the mileage or life of the vehicles by operating them at their maximum capacity, thus increasing the space utilization in vehicles by 31% .

AI logistics management platforms improve the productivity of deliveries by enabling multi-stop deliveries and transportation for drivers on a single trip.

The right mix of infrastructure and technology can make a huge difference in managing green logistics operations, as well as advancing the UAE’s sustainability goals, one delivery at a time.

SHIPSY MEDIA CONTACT

arjun.alva@shipsy.io