International supply chains generate substantial amounts of CO₂ emissions. However, established methodologies for national freight transport emission assessments do not consider such international perspectives sufficiently. This research aims to show how logistic responsibility may be used in ex post transport CO₂ emission assessments, for macrologistic or supply chain levels. We propose an original approach to estimate and allocate CO₂ emissions generated by international freight transport between trade countries. The proposed method relies on the applied Incoterms^® rules in sales contracts. A new indicator, the index of responsibility for transport emissions (RTE-index), is introduced to allocate bilateral trade-related transport CO₂ emissions. This is the first time that the Incoterms^® clauses are used for macrologistic assessments of international trade-related transport CO₂ emissions. Our approach is exemplified using bilateral trade-related transport flows between Serbia and other European countries. The introduced RTE-index is expected to help visualise average national trade-related transport CO₂ emission responsibilities; increase awareness regarding environmental considerations among trade parties, logistics companies, and national organisations; and provide new perspectives for environmental transport policy actions.

The identification and mitigation of negative externalities from goods deliveries in urban areas are important aspects of sustainable urban development. Previous studies have shown that urban freight consolidation increases the load factor of Delivery Vehicles (DVs), reducing the vehicle-kilometres driven and thus reducing negative freight transport externalities in urban areas. The objective of this paper is to explore the possible impact of the number of Urban Consolidation Centres (UCCs) on the external costs of last-mile deliveries in freight transport and to determine the possible contribution of such consolidation scenarios to external cost mitigation. Therefore, several consolidation scenarios are considered assuming different numbers of UCCs in operation. A new consolidation scheme is proposed with more than one UCC to serve a given city area. Input data are obtained from a roadside questionnaire survey with a sample of 1617 drivers at 9 access roads to an urban area as part of the NOvi Sad TRAnsport Model (NOSTRAM) study. Externalities are calculated using the IMPACT methodology and discussed for different urban freight consolidation options. The best option is identified, and the results indicate that properly planned, organised and managed urban freight consolidation can significantly reduce transport externalities. The main research results showed that all of the proposed consolidation options increase the total driving distance in an urban area. However, some consolidation options significantly reduce the driving distance of less manageable vehicles in last-mile deliveries (long-haul heavy- and light-duty vehicles). Consequently, the external costs ranged from 2108.3 to 5420.5 EUR for the consolidation option, whereas the current state externalities are 2791.4 EUR. Thus, more small UCCs may provide better results than the central centre even in medium-sized cities.

Decision making in city logistics (CL) is complex due to the numerous concepts and alternatives, as well as the intricate relationships between measures and effects. This study introduces a novel approach to evaluating urban freight transport (UFT) by combining multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) and social cost–benefit analysis (SCBA). This combination aims to improve decision making for sustainable CL concepts, particularly in reducing externalities in last-mile delivery. The model assesses various CL initiatives and urban consolidation center (UCC) concepts for their impact on UFT externalities. It uses the MCDM for ex ante scenarios assessment and prioritization. Input data were collected through a survey of experts from various sectors, and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was applied in the case study of Novi Sad, Serbia. The prioritization highlighted the significance of implementing restrictive regulatory measures, alternative transport modes, and operational optimization within UCC concepts. By estimating capital, operational, and external costs, SCBA was applied to the prioritized UCC concepts, which were then further evaluated using the SCBA outputs. Sensitivity analysis was employed to assess the robustness of the proposed model. This paper offers valuable insights into the potential use of existing tools within a hybrid model to enhance decision making in CL.

Assessment of pollutant emissions is a prerequisite for planning and development of sustainable urban transport systems. Majority of extant studies on sustainable urban transport is focused on pollution caused by urban passenger transport, with marked paucity of literature on the impact of urban freight transport. To partly bridge this gap, the paper objective is the impact assessment of selected regulative measures, i.e. fleet renewal on freight transport emissions. We used the case of Novi Sad to estimate the potential impact of selected restrictive measures on the external freight transport air pollution. To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first studies on impact of urban freight transport on the air pollution in the cities in the Balkan region. Several research findings are of interest. Firstly, the analysis of particular gas emissions reveals expected overall positive effects of the fleet renewal in most of cases. Still, the total amount of same emissions hardly increase, so this particular measure is not enough to reach the ambitious EU strategy goals concerned with sustainable urban freight transport. Further, some negative impacts of restrictive measures on gas emissions were also recorded and discussed. The observed complex impact of restrictive measures on urban freight air pollution indicates that urban freight transport planning and modeling requires a comprehensive database, clear goals and higher priority of environmental criterion in traffic planning. Our results and recommendations may be useful for scholars, urban transport planners, policy makers and practitioners.

This paper illuminates the freight forwarders’ role and significance in Serbia from late nineteenth century to date. Comprehensive research of available literature and sources was conducted in more than 50 institutions, located mostly in Serbia. The presented results comprise both historical dataset and contemporary data on trends in freight forwarding and logistic market. Three main findings are: a) considering available statistical data, freight forwarding was developed from a rare, but notable occupation in late nineteenth century in the Kingdom of Serbia, to a vital economic activity in logistic sector in twenty-first century in the Republic of Serbia; b) current role and significance of forwarders in Serbia and European Union is not adequately recognised and appreciated within the European statistical classification of economic activities (NACE); c) Freight forwarders in Serbia and Balkan region have shown high resilience and permanent transformation through the centuries. Additionally, the rising role of women was also considered.