The paper explores the key role of the last mile in the evolution of supply chains, with a focus on identifying challenges and solutions applied in the last phase of delivery. Today's challenges for logistics operators have significantly evolved over the past two decades due to current and growing trends. With the rise of e-commerce and urbanization, the last mile becomes a crucial point of competition, where fast, customized, and sustainable delivery emerges as an imperative for all involved stakeholders. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part refers to the identification of challenges faced by logistics operators in the last phase of the supply chain. The second part of the paper provides an overview of existing solutions and strategies that can be used to respond to challenges in the last mile of delivery. The third part offers case studies that provide a comparative cost analysis using different strategies in the last mile of delivery. Through the analysis of various solutions and strategies in the final stage of the supply chain, different aspects of efficiency and costs are illuminated in various scenarios. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for shaping the future of delivery that is efficient, sustainable, and tailored to the needs of the modern consumer.

Increasing demands for logistics services cause several challenges related to total costs and meeting global environmental requirements. Logistic operators make efforts to improve all logistic processes and the distribution chain system by optimizing distribution networks and transport routes. Also, using clean or renewable energy help to meet the above-mentioned requirements by using environmentally friendly means of transportation such as electric and hybrid vehicles. The replacement of conventional with electric vehicles provides numerous benefits for improving the efficiency of the distribution chain system. This process is part of the concept known as Green Logistics, which strives to minimize the environmental impact of the logistics network and delivery. This paper focuses on identification of indicators for evaluating the acceptability of replacing conventional vehicles with electric vehicles in the fleet of logistics operators. We propose an evaluation matrix based on key indicators such as total costs, eco score fleet rating, and range and energy supply of vehicles. We use these indicators to determine the advantages, challenges, and possibilities of introducing electric vehicles in the logistics operator’s fleet. Also, we conducted a multi-criteria analysis of replacing conventional with electric vehicles in the fleet of one logistics operator.

The Covid-19 pandemic has a direct impact on the social, economic, political, and other segments of society through a large number of lockdowns in 2020 and 2021. The largest postal and logistics companies as an integral part of the supply chain have been directly affected by the Covid 19 pandemic. Disruption in the supply chain significantly affects the movement of goods and the economic development of countries. This paper investigates the impact of the covid-19 pandemic on the logistics sector, with special emphasis on public postal operators (PPO) in some countries of the Western Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia). The paper analyzes the movement of express shipments in domestic transport, as well as imports and exports for 2020. There is almost no research on the implications of the covid-19 pandemic on the postal and logistics sectors of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia. The aim of this research is to understand the impact of the pandemic on this sector.

A UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) is an unmanned aerial vehicle or aircraft that can be monitored remotely or flown independently using a pre-programmed flight plan. Simply, a drone is a selfpropelled vehicle heavier than air. From their beginnings and first forms to modern drones as we know them today, people have discovered many areas for their application. As the power and carrying capacity of drones has grown, so does the possibility of using them for different purposes such as logistics and postal services. The main advantage of drones in urban areas is the independence from road infrastructure and fast delivery, but several challenges need to be addressed for this type of delivery to be competitive with other modes. Many projects have dealt with this topic, but none of them has widespread use to this day. In this paper, we will present the basic challenges that arise in the use of drones for shipment delivery. The paper will present activities that should be prioritized to make a competitive type of service. The paper will present also the advantages over other types of shipment delivery and the current limitation with a future possible research area.

The current market situation indicates an intensive increase in services offered by the logistics sector. To fulfill the growing demand, the logistics sector in the department of distribution of goods has several challenges, such as increasing fleet, increased mileage, difficulty in achieving an environmentally-friendly distribution chain. Each of these challenges requires organizational and managerial interventions in the process of functioning of the logistics sector. Given the needs of the market, environmental restrictions at the global level, the global issue of conventional fuels, research in this paper will focus on one of the elements for achieving an environmentally friendly and sustainable distribution chain. This paper targets to point out the challenges and advantages of replacing conventional vehicle vehicles with more environmentally-friendly vehicles. In the concept of Green Logistic, the basis for achieving an environmentally friendly logistics distribution chain are electric vehicles. The paper will identify the impact of logistics operations on the environment on the example of the vehicle fleet of a logistics operator in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which provides goods distribution services, using European models for assessing the environmental performance of vehicles. Research and application of scientific methods will determine the advantages, challenges, and possibilities of introducing electric vehicles in logistics operator’s fleet.

In the last few years, we have been active participants in globalization and the rapid growth of online commerce. This trend directly impacts logistics, postal, and courier companies. Challenges are visible in the growth and development of these companies, as well as quality of task execution and the ability to adapt to market conditions. With the impact of the SARS-COV-19 virus on the market, and due to locks during the pandemic, shoppers were forced to buy products online. This effect accelerated the trend of purchases via e-commerce, which increased the number of parcels in the technological phases of pick-up and delivery. These companies are the bearers of the first and last technological phase of shipment transport. Due to the increase in the number of shipments, postal and logistics companies are under great pressure. This is because of certain restrictions introduced during the pandemic, but also because of costs, especially fixed costs in the first and last phase of transport. This paper proposes an outsourcing model for the pick-up and delivery to convert fixed costs into variable ones.

New technologies primarily affect the lives of all people, their habits, needs, desires, but also significantly affect the demands placed on various business sectors. Discussions on the increasingly rapid development of technical-technological solutions that can be applied in the postal sector and logistics have a long history. New technologies in all areas bring a constant change in the relationship between companies and their customers, which significantly affect the quality of work and activities. In the years to come, it will be an increasing challenge for postal operators around the world, as well as for other companies, to achieve substantive communication and understanding of their customers through the application of innovative technologies. Understanding and learning about customer issues is key to offering them services that, with their precise targeting of stakeholders, quality, visibility, efficiency, and, perhaps most importantly, flexibility, will be able to meet needs that change so quickly over time. This will be possible with new technologies and innovative solutions. The paper presents a market research on the potential use of autonomous vehicles and drones in the postal sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The research is based on a survey questionnaire on the use of drones and autonomous vehicles in the postal sector in the segment of shipment delivery.

The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic has emerged as one of the greatest problems of the 21st century worldwide. Efforts to fight this pandemic require a global co-operation and a multidisciplinary approach. An application of information and communication technologies (ICT) to a great degree contributes to fighting the pandemic as these technologies are one of the key services that assist patients, researchers, health institutions and other interested parties in different activities in an effort to fight the pandemic and its consequences. The present paper presents the features of certain mobile applications (apps) that are being used for different purposes such as: tracking patients, COVID-19-related warnings, keeping tracks of statistical data, organising life and business, etc. Aside from presenting the features of a certain number of applications, a review of technologies used for the development of these applications will also be presented. Furthermore, the paper addresses certain challenges that come along with the mobile technologies applications and offers suggestions for future research.

The active introduction and modern technologies application in the transport market greatly affect all transport branches and the ways of their business. Availability and mass usage of the internet and web services create a new ambiance of trade through online sales respectively e-commerce. The increase in internet sales has a direct effect on the business of courier companies. The increase in the number of shipments, especially in the B2C (Business-to-consumer) segment, is putting increasing pressure on costs for companies that do pickup and delivery. Companies are trying to adapt their business to the new challenges and conditions that prevail in the transport market through different cost management models. One way to manage costs is to outsourcing costs. This paper proposes a model cost calculation in outsourcing services for pickup and delivery shipments based on the number of stops.

The present review paper provides a systematic insight into the studies published so far when it comes to the research on the cost and performance optimisation in the parcel delivery phase. Globalisation, as well as the new trends, such as selling online, directly influences the demands for the delivery of goods. Demand for the delivery of goods proportionally affects the transport prices. A great majority of deliveries is carried out in densely populated urban areas. In terms of costs, the greatest part in the courier organisations costs is observed in the technological phase of parcel delivery, which is at the same time the least efficient. For that reason, significant improvement of performance and cost optimisation in the very delivery phase is a rather challenging field for the researchers. New algorithm-based technologies, innovations in the logistics and outsourcing of individual technological phases are ways by means of which one strives to enhance the delivery efficiency, to improve performance and quality, but also to optimise the costs in the last phase of delivery. The aim of the present paper is to offer a systematic review into the most recent research in the field of technology, innovations and outsourcing models with the aim of reducing the cost and enhancing the productivity and quality in parcel delivery.

The rapid development of technology is directly affecting the growth and development of e-commerce shipments, especially in the Business to Customer segment. An increase in e-commerce shipments has a strong impact on the express delivery industry. In these conditions, a very significant challenge is how to organize a postal network. The problem that arises is how many postal centers, and at what locations, should be implemented in a specific geographical area in order to optimize the level of service for the users. Solving this challenge has latterly received increased attention in both industry and academia. The aim of this paper is to firstly provide a concise overview of current approaches in the process of determining the optimal location of postal centers. The second part of the paper will focus on proposing an approach that will rely on machine learning methods for clustering in defined conditions and specific geographical environment using appropriate geographic information tools for spatial data analysis and visualization.

The new challenging trends such as globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation of the postal sector, the emergence of the internet commerce, as well as the demands for high quality commercial postal services operators, create a new ambience for the ways business is conducted by commercial postal services operators which demands innovative approaches. The growing pressure regarding the costs of commercial postal services operators and the increase in volume for pick-up and delivery leads to changes from fixed into variable costs by means of different outsourcing models. This paper proposes a model of calculating the outsourcing services of the technological phases regarding parcel delivery and pick-up, while it is not focusing on the details of the partnership contract. For cost calculation, the model utilizes calculation factors based on the kilometres covered for different categories of vehicles that may take part in the parcel pick-up and delivery phases.

Today in world the road infrastructure is actively monitored, primarily for the safety of all traffic participants, but is also actively tracked for traffic organization, timely response to newly emerging situations that can endanger infrastructure users. Supervision and tracking of transport infrastructure is important from several aspects.By constantly tracking traffic infrastructure and turnover, it is easy to spot potential problems and dangers that occur at a particular location.For active supervision of the road infrastructure is necessary to use modern technology. The use of intelligent transport systems in road infrastructure supervision can be used for preventive action and elimination of potential dangers to infrastructure users. By managing from the supervising center, intelligent warning systems located on motorways, give the possibility to drivers to timely warn at certain risks and difficulties in traffic infrastructure such as certain infrastructure damage, driving time conditions, traffic accidents, black spots, warning about certain works on the infrastructure, and various other driver information, essential for traffic safety. Certain devices installed on the roads are intended to send information on the state of the infrastructure to the main control center. The supervisory center, with timely information, has the ability to actively manage traffic and preventive action. The control center has a special function in the case of traffic accidents through the transmission of information to the urgent services. Particular attention is paid to road infrastructure supervision in large cities where there is a high frequency of vehicles as well as on the highway. This paper presents an overview of the use of intelligent transport equipment for road infrastructure supervision and the advantages of surveillance. The paper shows the review of supervision of road infrastructure in Bosnia and Herzegovina with special emphasis on Corridor Vc, using intelligent transport systems.