A Route-Based KPI Framework for Transportation Cost Benchmarking: An Illustrative Application Using Secondary Data from Agri-Food Logistics in Morocco

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to design a route-based Key Performance Indicator (KPI) framework to benchmark transportation costs and demonstrate how this framework enables cost reduction decisions by comparing the Monthly Rental Model and the 3PL Per-Trip Model of logistics operations.
Methods: Secondary logistics data of a published example of horizontal logistics collaboration in the agri-food supply chain of Morocco was used as the quantitative comparative method. It re-analyzed the data to show the relevance of the proposed framework. The analysis concentrates on route-based KPIs, such as the cost of transportation, cost per kilometer, fleet usage, on-time delivery, route efficiency, and Volume Distribution Share.
Results: The illustrative application showed that 72% of the analyzed routes achieved cost reductions, with an average saving of 12,000 SAR per route. The total cost of transport was reduced by 10%, the cost per kilometer decreased by 20%, and fleet utilization improved by 18%. Nevertheless, there was a cost increase post-collaboration in one of the routes, which suggests that route characteristics can influence the success of collaborative logistics and that no single transportation model can serve every route.
Conclusions: The KPI-based structure suggested offers a viable and evidence-based method of recognizing cost inefficiency at the route level, assessing the performance of transporters, and aiding in choosing between a fixed monthly rental and flexible 3PL-based per-trip transportation strategy. The results emphasize the need of route-level benchmarking in contrast to the use of aggregate transportation costs analysis.