Purpose: The purpose is to study the potentials and risks of a High Capacity Transport (HCT) introduction in the established terminal network of DHL Freight Sweden to provide a holistic understanding from a system perspective of how benefits can be achieved with respect for the environmental, operational, economic and social aspects. The finished report should further contribute to comprehensive knowledge that could be used as a feasibility study and decision basis in an application to the Swedish Transport Agency in order to receive a permit to use HCTs in DHL Freight’s terminal network.
Theory: There is not an adequate amount of literature from the Nordic countries or other environments presenting empirical evidence, but most researchers do still agree upon a large potential of HCT and many advantages. The risks of advantages can however create a transmodal shift from inland waterways and rail freight. Even though there is little empirical evidence that supports this reasoning, it is not unlikely that the demand for road transportation increases further if HCT results in lower costs for the consignors, which might cause a transmodal shift. The effects on the overall system differs slightly in previous literature towards the better and worse, depending on the literature’s examined environment, type of goods or other contexts in alternative aspects.
Method: A case study with a mixed methodology accompanied by an explanatory sequential mixed method is applied. A quantitative model has been developed based on all transportation between the 1st of January and the 12th of October in 2018 in 600 relationships. The majority of the calculations are based on an average fill rate of 75 and 80% in a Large Goods Vehicle (LGV) and High Capacity Vehicle (HCV). A sensitivity analysis has been conducted to examine different situations. Three different scenarios have also been reviewed; (a) an analysis of only Longer and Heavier Vehicles (LHVs) in the operations, (b) a theoretical analysis in which HCVs do replace all LHVs and (c) an optimal scenario in which the model computes calculations based on the most advantageous vehicle setup per transport and relationship.