Urban Freight Terminals: A Sustainability Cross-case Analysis

The purpose of this paper is to present a comparative analysis of two urban intermodal freight transport terminals focusing on last mile distribution; the port of Thessaloniki (ThPA) and Kuehne + Nagel (K+N) distribution center. The paper enables the pairwise comparison of different intermodal freight transport nodes acting as interchanges in a supply chain with a special focus on the last mile distribution. The final “product” of the analysis is the creation of an auxiliary or subsidiary tool to potential decision makers (e.g. shippers, forwarders, transport companies etc. users or customers of the two terminals within the supply chain). The evaluation of the terminals' performance is elaborated based on a tailored multi criteria key performance indicator KPI-based assessment framework, while the selection and significance (weight) of the incorporated criteria and KPI's is predetermined by the involved stakeholders imposing their point of view through an analytical hierarchy method. ThPA terminal ranked first according to its performance pertaining to the role of an intermodal interchange, however K+N terminal's performance index was slightly lower, while in several KPIs and criteria it seemed to perform better.