Towards Sustainable Urban Freight: A Collaborative Business Model Framework for Last-Mile Consolidation Centres

Urban freight transport generates significant negative externalities in the form of noise, congestion, and environmental impacts. Freight consolidation centres could be seen as a potential solution, offering benefits such as shorter delivery distances and fewer delivery routes. However, implementation of freight consolidation centers requires collaboration between actors with conflicting interests and goals. This study proposes a collaborative business model framework for freight consolidation centres. The novelty of the study lies in conceptualising collaboration as an outcome-based partnership and extending the Business Model Canvas with collaboration-specific components. This framework was empirically tested and refined through a pilot project in Gothenburg, applying the principles of engaged scholarship. The results indicate that last-mile consolidation can significantly improve operational efficiency and enable sustainability gains. At the same time, structural, economic, and organisational barriers need to be addressed to realise all benefits of the collaborative business model. The findings particularly highlight the need for deeper institutionalisation of collaborative practices, including the integration of new norms, procedures, and policies into the business models of the individual actors involved.