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Challenges of Environmental Protection in Sustainable Transportation Planning

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Transportation".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 11730

Special Issue Editors

Department for Managing Logistics and Supply Chain, Faculty of Logistics, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Interests: sustainable supply chains; green logistics; environmental sustainability
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Department for Transportation Logistics, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, University of Zagreb, 10000 Zagreb, Croatia
Interests: intermodal transport; inland terminals; city logistics; supply chain management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Environmental protection is among the top political, socio-economic and academic priorities. Continuing pressure on natural resources, pollution and climate changes forces humanity to act more sustainable also in the areas that were traditionally more related to fossil fuels, such as transportation. Globally, transportation sector is second largest emitter of greenhouse gases and sector where emissions are still intensifying. Therefore new approaches for more environmentally sustainable transportation systems must be investigated. Transportation planning is one of the most prominent tools of how to achieve it. Shared mobility, smart communities, green and urban (city) logistics all strive towards innovative solutions that allow more responsible and more sustainable transportation already now. The biggest changes are expected to happen until 2030, therefore, with respect to available literature, scientific research needs additional push to address all there challenges on scientific, professional as well as on the level of practical implications.

This special issue therefore aims to give better insight into:

  • transportation planning in smart communities
  • new sustainable modes of transportation
  • intermodal transportation for better efficiency of logistics systems
  • environmental protection in transportation
  • sustainable mobility
  • investigating environmental challenges of transportation
  • including pollution monitoring and congestion into transportation planning in cities
  • planning suburban and rural transportation flows
  • green logistics
  • logistics processes
  • urban (city) logistics
  • urban mobility
  • urban planning
  • sustainable freight transport
  • waste management
  • sustainable network analysis
  • investigating the impact of transportation on supply chain sustainability and resilience
  • planning and implementing shared mobility
  • new business models related with sustainable transportation
  • transportation strategies in specific environments

Dr. Matevz Obrecht
Dr. Tomislav Rožić
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 11765 KiB  
Article
Port Competition through Hinterland Connectivity—A Case Study for Potential Hinterland Scope in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) Regarding an Environmental Policy Measure
by Michael Gleser, Ralf Elbert and Hongjun Wu
Sustainability 2023, 15(3), 1980; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su15031980 - 20 Jan 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1892
Abstract
Comparable port efficiency among ports of the European northern range leads to a competitive shift toward hinterland connectivity. North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), having a high population and industry density and an extensive road, rail and waterway network, is prone to such inter port competition [...] Read more.
Comparable port efficiency among ports of the European northern range leads to a competitive shift toward hinterland connectivity. North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), having a high population and industry density and an extensive road, rail and waterway network, is prone to such inter port competition due to its proximity. Using a simulation model, the potential hinterland scope by each port and mode in NRW is depicted and a sensitivity analysis with increasing carbon tax rates is conducted. With an increasing tax rate, the scope for central areas of NRW, prone to a shift to rail transport, expands and become heavily contested among multiple ports. A major profiteer of an increase is projected to be the Port of Rotterdam due to its good connectivity at the cost of Antwerp. The market share of German ports is likely to stay the same with a mode shift occurring. Policy measures like a carbon tax not only have an effect on environmentally friendly mode shift but can severely impact the competitive situation of infrastructure components. While achieving the primary goal of transport sustainability, national interests might mandate the economical existence of a functioning maritime port, which leads to the consideration of additional measures when increasing carbon tax rates. Full article
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25 pages, 1314 KiB  
Article
Investigating the Influences of Smart Port Practices and Technology Employment on Port Sustainable Performance: The Egypt Case
by Alaa Othman, Sara El Gazzar and Matjaz Knez
Sustainability 2022, 14(21), 14014; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su142114014 - 27 Oct 2022
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 3560
Abstract
In this digital age, sustainable development and competitive advantage of port businesses rely on their capacity to adapt to changing business requirements. Although many previous studies develop a relation between smart port, technology, and sustainable performance, there is an urgent need to address [...] Read more.
In this digital age, sustainable development and competitive advantage of port businesses rely on their capacity to adapt to changing business requirements. Although many previous studies develop a relation between smart port, technology, and sustainable performance, there is an urgent need to address such issues practically among ports, especially in developing countries. Therefore, this research aims at investigating to what extent the Egyptian ports could apply the smart practices and employ technology to achieve and improve sustainable port performance. The Egyptian ports have been selected to serve as an empirical study in this research, assessing their current performance and evaluating their level of readiness and adaptability to smart practices and technology employment. Interviews have been conducted with a group of 10 different stakeholders from government, private sectors, and experts in the field of port management. The interview results showed the main challenges and obstacles that might face the adaptation of technology and sustainable practices in Egyptian ports. This was followed by a focus group with experts in the field to discuss and conclude some procedures that can be adapted to facilitate the implementation of smart practices and technology employment in the Egyptian ports in order to improve their sustainable performance from different perspectives (economic, social, and environmental), deal with the obstacles facing adaptation, and suggest solutions The research adopted ‘content analysis’ for both phases. The research showed the great potential of technology employment to achieve sustainable performance in Egyptian ports while highlighting the main obstacles and challenges that might face the adaptation with suggestions and recommendations to those obstacles in order to adopt the digital transformation towards a sustainable smart port performance. Nevertheless, there are some limitations that could be an open issue to future researchers and practitioners who can benefit from those suggestions to employ technology and adapt sustainable procedures in ports, foster new practical research initiatives to adapt the smart port practices in different countries, and test their impact on port sustainable performance. Full article
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17 pages, 830 KiB  
Article
A Strategic Approach for Promoting Sustainable Crowdshipping in Last-Mile Deliveries
by Patricija Bajec and Danijela Tuljak-Suban
Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13508; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013508 - 19 Oct 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1589
Abstract
Extending last-mile delivery services to individuals—crowdshippers who pick up or deliver a shipment as part of their daily activities—has sustainable benefits, but also risks (damaged parcels, late deliveries, increased emissions) for various stakeholders. So far, developed crowdshipping models have only addressed one or [...] Read more.
Extending last-mile delivery services to individuals—crowdshippers who pick up or deliver a shipment as part of their daily activities—has sustainable benefits, but also risks (damaged parcels, late deliveries, increased emissions) for various stakeholders. So far, developed crowdshipping models have only addressed one or two risks at a time. No model promotes environmental goals separately or together with other goals. This study proposes a crowdshipping model that consists of three stakeholders (the owner of a crowdshipping platform, crowdshippers and parcel providers) and with various incentives aims to maximise the profitability of the platform and the compensation of crowdshippers, the quality of delivery, and to minimise environmental externalities. A two-level leader–follower game and the concept of Shapley value, from cooperative flow games at the follower level, are used to define the optimal strategy that provides sustainable delivery with a good balance between costs and profits. The game behaviour was explained on a crowdshipping platform provider (leader) and two coalitions: individual crowdshippers and parcel logistics providers. The aim of the example is to explain the strategy of promoting environmentally friendly parcel delivery. The results show satisfactory economic, social and environmental performance. Full article
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Review

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23 pages, 2983 KiB  
Review
The Role of Bioeconomy in the Future Energy Scenario: A State-of-the-Art Review
by Martina Perišić, Ernest Barceló, Katarina Dimic-Misic, Monireh Imani and Vesna Spasojević Brkić
Sustainability 2022, 14(1), 560; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su14010560 - 05 Jan 2022
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3689
Abstract
The bioeconomy aims at decreasing reliance on fossil fuels, preventing or reducing climate change, eliminating insecurity, and efficiently using resources; however, fierce controversy exists on conceivable pathways to accomplish these objectives. The transport sector alone, which encompasses all other industrial sectors, has grown [...] Read more.
The bioeconomy aims at decreasing reliance on fossil fuels, preventing or reducing climate change, eliminating insecurity, and efficiently using resources; however, fierce controversy exists on conceivable pathways to accomplish these objectives. The transport sector alone, which encompasses all other industrial sectors, has grown with regard to its energy demand by 50% over the past 30 years. The aim of this paper is to promote a dialogue as to whether an economy based on biomass can be more sustainable than today’s existing economies, considering that the economy needs to expand and be boosted, while creating a cascading and recycling system. This semi-systematic review paper discusses four research questions based on findings from the last 20 years: (i) What are the crucial issues in the ongoing debate on the development of a sustainable bioeconomy concept? (ii) Where are the major conflicting points and focuses? (iii) How does the bioeconomy follow current urbanization and land-abandonment trends? (iv) How will the crisis linked to the COVID-19 pandemic change these previous scenarios? As it is not easy to currently predict which pathway will be the most effective, whether it be the one taken as of now or a specific novel pathway, this article recommends following a strategy that is diverse regarding its approaches to shaping the bioeconomy and further funding of renewable energy sources, along with the involvement of urban planning. In addition, conclusions are validated through a questionnaire completed by 51 experts in the field. Full article
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