A city logistics system for freight transportation: integrating information technology and operational research

City logistics comprise the delivery and picking of goods in urban areas, affecting the performance of businesses and quality of life in cities. The systems that support city logistics for freight transportation have a great research interest for academics, and it is a hot topic for businesses. Research issues like delivery with time windows, traffic congestion, route optimization, and dynamic routing are of great importance in the literature of city logistics. However, that research activity often does not meet practical solutions, and there is a gap between operational research (OR) and business practices in freight transportation. This article presents the development of an information system that supports the efficient delivery of goods within urban areas. The system utilizes a set of OR algorithms enabled by information technologies (IT) to support logistics operations effectively. It mainly deals with optimizing vehicle routes and schedules, while considering the delivery time windows, the specific requirements of customers, the characteristics of the street network, the need for dynamic routing and rerouting, and traffic congestion issues in cities. The article presents the system’s architecture, its development methodology, its basic functionality, the developed algorithms, as well as the adopted information technologies. It concludes with validating the system with real-life business data and the conclusions from the entire effort.