Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain | 2026
Authors: Janné M.; Matinrad N.
DOI: 10.1016/j.clscn.2025.100295
Journal: Cleaner Logistics and Supply Chain
Year: 2026
Publisher: Elsevier Ltd
Document Type: Article
Open Access: All Open Access; Gold Open Access; Green Open Access
Cited by: 2
Mass logistics centers (MLCs) are lately facing increasing recognition for their potential to improve transport efficiency in soil and rock material flows and to support circular mass systems, resulting in reduced CO2 emissions. Despite this, decisions about where to locate MLCs are often made without any systematic analysis and instead are done ad hoc or, at times, based on opinions of experts. This study addresses that gap by proposing an optimization model to determine the optimal location for an MLC within a mass logistics system, where all materials are routed through one or several MLCs. We test the model using experimental data generated based on a real development project in Sweden. Furthermore, we perform a sensitivity analysis on several parameters to investigate their effect on the performance of the proposed model. The results show that a close relationship between transport efficiency, circularity and upscaling rate, transport capacity, and need for space at MLCs exists – the higher the circularity rate, the better the transport efficiency with reduced CO2 emissions. They also indicate the necessity of finding the right balance between these factors in a given system rather than solely focusing on transport efficiency, to ensure the applicability of the solutions in the real-life system. This study, in a broad way, contributes to understanding how MLCs can reduce the environmental impact of mass transport and supports more strategic planning in infrastructure development. © 2025 The Author(s).
Circularity; Location model; Mass logistics centers; Optimization; Soil and rock materials