Multi-objective optimization for two-echelon joint delivery location routing problem considering carbon emission under online shopping

A sharp increasing number of online shopping parcels and scattered customers lead each express company to invest a lot logistics resources, but its utilization rate is low. Each express company faces the challenge of improving customer satisfaction and market competitiveness while ensuring the total costs are under control. This paper develops a novel joint delivery (JD) model to reduce operation costs and carbon emission via strengthening horizontal cooperation and resource sharing among express companies. Furthermore, it designs a multi-depot two-echelon joint delivery location routing problem (MD-2E-JDLRP) mathematic model for JD considering multi-objectives and proposes a hybrid heuristic algorithm to solve the MD-2E-JDLRP. The performance of this algorithm was tested by benchmarks and a case study. Finally, a case study is conducted to verify the effectiveness of the MD-2E-JDLRP model. The obtained results show the JD model can effectively reduce costs and carbon emissions while ensuring higher customer satisfaction.