A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK FOR SUSTAINABLE FREIGHT LAND TRANSPORT SIMULATION - PART 1

Freight transport is a fundamental activity for the economic growth of a country or region, and the transport sector is one of the main contributors to gross domestic product (GDP) measurements. The total tons to be transported per year and transport types must be taken into account by state organisations for infrastructure planning, routes, prices and taxes. Governments make investment decisions according to the size of the freight mobilised per year. Transportation companies should contemplate external and internal variables, for example, fuel prices, distances, environmental impact, among others. Sustainability has become a determining factor in transport companies' decision making. This paper presents a novel study about the factors that affect freight land transport from the sustainability perspective. Then it proposes a conceptual framework to act as a roadmad to build a simulation model of freight land transport by defining the key parameters in economic, social and environmental terms. (Received in December 2023, accepted in August 2024. This paper was with the authors 5 months for 2 revisions.)