Logistic Strategies for Sustainable City Courier Services
– An Agent-based Simulation Approach

Dipl.-Inform. Nicolas Knaak, Dipl.-Inform. Ruth Meyer, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bernd Page
Department for Informatics
University of Hamburg
Vogt-Koelln-Str. 30, 22527 Hamburg, Germany
E-Mail: page@informatik.uni-hamburg.de

KEYWORDS: Agent-based Simulation, Courier Services, Discrete Event Simulation, Logistics

Abstract
Courier services are an important factor of product and
business traffic in many large cities. As compared to express
services the individual delivery of consignments by couriers
is leading to a higher flexibility on one hand. On the other
hand it causes a high traffic density, which is critical from
the economical as well as from the ecological side. One
approach for optimizing city courier services is the enhancement
of the courier concept by Hubs known from
express services. These logistic strategies together with an
increased employment of bicycle couriers and bundling of
consignments seem to be a sensible way for reducing costs,
transportation distances, and emissions. In a research project
at the University of Hamburg an Agent-based simulation
model of city courier services has been developed in cooperation
with two local courier firms. By means of this model
ecological, economic as well as social implications of two
alternative logistic strategies have been analysed and evaluated.
Promising results have been found in the simulation
studies by introducing a single inner city interchange station
for bundling deliveries for the suburban areas.1