Collaboration in the freight industry has not been widely adopted mainly due to the perceived barriers in competition resulting in a lack of trust among fleet operators. Collaboration in this sector has significant benefits, including the reduction of empty running, operating costs (OPEX) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) resulting in greater utilisation of existing logistics assets. A review of the literature to establish the critical aspects of freight collaboration was undertaken, as well as analyses of published case studies and European Union (EU)-funded projects. The critical aspects and barriers identified include: revenue sharing; compliance with competition law; process synchronization; organisational and systems interoperability; different forms of collaboration from a physical and coordination structure perspective; and strategies for collaboration. To facilitate collaboration a freight collaborative business model (FCBM) framework that highlights problematic areas in freight collaboration is proposed to support standardizing collaborative practices in the freight industry. Three published freight industry collaboration business cases were evaluated against the model. The business model framework is intended as a tool to be used to compare different business models and identify the best innovations to help facilitate collaborative practices. The freight collaboration business model was applied to the Freight Share Lab research project in order to demonstrate the concept and investigate whether efficiency can be unlocked through deployment of a dynamic data and asset sharing platform to enable route and load optimization across multiple fleets of freight vehicles, rail freight wagons and containers.

This paper introduces the FreightShare Lab Platform (FSLP) and its embedded business model, aiming to facilitate and encourage horizontal collaboration in freight logistics. The idea of the FSLP is to create collaborating clusters of freight operators, and corresponding collaborative operational plans, via specialised decision support algorithms and multi-fleet optimisation. Further, a gain-sharing business model embedded within the FSLP algorithms ensures that participants, mainly logistics service providers and freight operators, can retain their own profit margins and fairly share the efficiency gains from collaboration. A case study is presented, centred on a large UK freight operator, to evaluate the key FSLP algorithms in a realistic context. The results evidence the potential for significant financial and environmental benefits for industry and society.

Background: Supply chain collaboration technologies (SCCTs) are digital tools designed to enhance communication, coordination, and integration among supply chain stakeholders. These tools are essential for enhancing transparency, efficiency, and traceability within complex supply chain networks, particularly in the food industry. Methods: This study focuses on the statistical analysis of survey data to evaluate the adoption and impact of SCCTs, including blockchain, Internet of Things (IoT), enterprise resource planning (ERP), and artificial intelligence (AI), in Nigeria’s food industry. Results: The results reveal critical insights into the adoption barriers, perceived benefits, and gaps in implementation. Descriptive and inferential statistical techniques highlight significant variations in technology across different sectors, uncovering key factors influencing the integration of SCCTs. The findings demonstrate that while the technologies hold substantial potential to optimize supply chain performance, their acceptance is constrained by infrastructural deficiencies, regulatory challenges, under-developed trust-building mechanisms, and limited technical expertise. Conclusions: This paper underscores the importance of targeted interventions, policy support, and resource allocation to foster the effective utilization of SCCTs. The study provides data-driven recommendations for improving technology uptake, contributing to the sustainability and competitiveness of Nigeria’s food supply chain.

This paper proposes the concept of Inter-Enterprise Architecture (IEA), which seeks the application of tools and methodologies developed in the Enterprise Architecture (EA) field for the individual firm, adapting to an environment of collaboration between several companies that make networks or supply chains, in order to facilitate the integration and interoperability of their collaborative processes in line with its IS/IT (Information Systems/ Information Technology) to harmonize the joint processes, reduce risk and duplication, increase service and customer responsiveness, reduce technology costs and align the joint business to IS/IT.