Urban Freight Fleet Composition Problem

The Urban Freight Fleet Composition (UFFC) problem concerns the definition of the optimal mix in terms of types and number of vehicles (fleet composition) to serve the demand for parcel delivery in an urban area. Urban areas can be subject to access restrictions that reduce the possibility to enter the area. In this paper, we consider time access restriction related to specific vehicle types (i.e. the time-windows during which the access to the area of delivery is allowed depends upon the characteristics of the vehicles). Thus, we aim to discuss the impact of these restrictions on the fleet composition decision. To this end, we introduce a simple, tactical oriented optimization model, which trades off the different costs and revenues in delivering goods.