Smart Freight Logistics: Intelligent Transport Systems and Emerging Technologies

Smart Freight Logistics explains how digital and data-driven tools are reshaping freight logistics from urban deliveries to regional and national supply chains.

Readers will gain comprehensive understanding of digital freight transformation through structured analysis of real-world ITS applications, case studies, and analytical frameworks. The book delivers practical insights by examining technology integration challenges, showcasing successful implementations across global logistics environments, and providing decision-making tools for optimizing freight operations. Key topics include last-mile delivery optimization, urban freight management, autonomous vehicles, blockchain for supply chain transparency, and sustainable logistics strategies. Through these elements, readers will develop skills to reduce operational costs, enhance supply chain visibility, improve resilience against disruptions, implement data-driven logistics management, and design more sustainable freight systems adaptable to rapidly changing market conditions.

This book serves postgraduate students in Transport Planning, Logistics, and Supply Chain Management programmes, along with researchers and industry professionals seeking evidence-based solutions for modern freight logistics challenges.

Ish Kumar, PhD, is a transport planning researcher specialising in urban freight logistics, last-mile delivery systems, and Intelligent Transport Systems. A former Assistant Professor in the Department of Transport Planning at the School of Planning and Architecture (SPA), Delhi, he has published in in Scopus-indexed journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings with publishers such as Taylor & Francis, Elsevier, and Springer. His work focuses on freight demand modelling, routing and network design, multi-criteria decision analysis, blockchain-enabled transparency, and sustainability and emissions assessment. He has received Best Paper awards at CTSEM 2025 and RATE 2022 and was selected for the VREF Urban Logistics Summer School (University of Antwerp). Kumar serves as a reviewer for leading journals and for major conferences including TRB, WCTR, CTRG, CTSEM, and AIIT TIS Roma.

Vinay Maitri, PhD, is a former Professor and Dean at the School of Planning and Architecture, Delhi. With more than three decades in academia and practice, he has helped shape postgraduate curricula in Transport Economics and ITS, supervised numerous theses, and advised on national and city transport initiatives, including World Bank-supported studies. His publications include several books and research papers on transport systems management, freight operations, GIS applications, and policy analysis, and he has presented at international forums such as TRB (Washington, D.C.). Maitri has served on professional committees and standards bodies, bringing analytical rigour and practitioner experience to the governance and delivery of urban mobility and logistics.