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The University of Southampton
Southampton Business School

Major grant awarded for research project

Published: 11 February 2016

The grant supports Southampton researchers to explore whether freight firms could share facilities to cut costs, congestion and pollution.

Tolga Bektas, Professor of Logistics Management at the Southampton Business School, is part of a team that has won a major grant to examine how parcel deliveries in towns and cities can be made more efficient and environmentally friendly.

The £1.45million grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) has been awarded to the Universities of Southampton, Lancaster, Westminster and University College London, with Transport for London and other freight operators including TNT and Gnewt.

Tolga will be working with Dr Tom Cherrett of the Transportation Research Group at the University of Southampton, who is leading the project – ‘Freight Traffic Control 2050: transforming the energy demands of last-mile urban freight through collaborative logistics.’

“My part of the research will explore how different freight companies could share warehousing and a fleet of lorries while delivering to customers in urban areas,” explains Tolga. “Consolidating their operations could mean considerable savings in premises, time and energy for all the companies as well as cutting congestion and pollution within towns and cities.” A postdoctoral researcher will be recruited at the Southampton Business School to support the project, which will begin in April 2016.

Researchers will start work in London where the greatest benefits could lie.

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