The market for the courier, express, and parcel services (CEP services) has undergone lasting changes in recent years in line with the dynamic development of e-commerce in Germany. In particular, the number of shipments to private households (2C shipments or private parcels) is constantly increasing. In addition to the rising number of private parcels, there is currently also a trend towards increasing shipment sizes. This development is a major reason for rising costs in parcel delivery. Potentials to compensate for this cost increase can be realized primarily by increasing efficiency on the last mile, i.e. the last delivery segment. This relatively short section of the parcel delivery from the CEP service provider's depot to the recipient currently accounts for more than half of the total costs of a parcel shipment. These high costs are triggered, among other things, by multiple delivery attempts, since the shipments often cannot be delivered at the first attempt. There are already many different approaches to this aspect of delivering private parcels alone, and these are being implemented at various stages. Parcel stores, packing stations, and flexible delivery dates adapted to individual customer requirements as well as deliveries to the workplace are examples of concepts that have already been implemented. In addition to these special challenges of 2C shipments, another, increasingly topical problem is the coordination of 2C and 2B shipments with their specific requirements.

The agreed cooperation project investigates concepts for private parcel delivery and the parallel processing of 2C and 2B shipments at CEP service providers. Using the support of a pilot project and the evaluation of data for the implementation of different delivery concepts as well as the route planning for the delivery of parcels with electric vehicles, these concepts are to be evaluated and improvement potentials are to be identified considering the existing problems.