Andrés Felipe Rey started his journey at Kühne Logistics University as a PhD candidate in September 2022 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Johannes Meuer and Prof. Dr. Gordon Wilmsmeier. His dissertation research concentrates on decarbonising road freight transportation in emerging countries.
Before joining the PhD program at KLU, Andrés received a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from ICESI University with a certification of Supply Chain Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from National University of Colombia. During his bachelor studies, Andrés spent one year abroad at the Technology University of Vienna (TUWIEN) in Austria. Andrés has conducted his previous research in Giro Zero about decarbonisation of freight transportation in Colombia.
Previously, he has 17 years of experience in the supply chain field. In the private sector, he has worked as leader of operations and implementation projects in supply chains in countries such as Colombia, Panama, Mexico and Venezuela. In the public sector, he has experience as Senior Consultant for the National Planning Department (DNP) with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and as advisory and project contributor for multilateral banking such as the World Bank for Bolivia, IDB for Peru, CAF for Panama, and ICLEI for Colombia.
Contact
Networks
Academic Positions
| Since 2022 | PhD Candidate, Kühne Logistics University, Hamburg, Germany |
| Since 2021 | Research Associate, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom & Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia |
| 2016 | Assistant Lecturer, ICESI University, Cali, Colombia |
Education
| Since 2022 | PhD Candidate, Kühne Logistics University, Hamburg, Germany |
| 2013 - 2014 | Global Certificate of Supply Chain Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston, MA, USA |
| 2010 - 2013 | Master of Science in Industrial Engineering, ICESI University, Cali, Colombia |
| 1999 - 2004 | Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, National University of Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia |
Professional Experience
| 2020 - 2021 | Freelance Consulting, Imetrica for Multilateral Organizations, IBD, WB-IFC, ICLEI and CAF Latin American Development Bank, Cali, Colombia |
| 2017 - 2019 | Senior Consultant for Logistics and Transportation at the National Planning Department, Government of Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia |
| 2015 - 2017 | Co-Founder & Manager, Cargaya, Cali, Colombia |
| 2010 - 2015 | Operations Manager, Solistica (Femsa Logística), Colombia, Panama, Venezuela and Mexico |
| 2005 - 2009 | Specialist Planning of Transportation, Coca-Cola Femsa, Bogotá, Colombia |
Publications
The Colombian road freight transport sector is a major contributor to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and plays a critical role in achieving the country’s net-zero target by 2050. While technological solutions such as vehicle electrification and alternative fuels are essential, substantial mitigation potential also lies in improving operational efficiency. A persistent source of inefficiency is the prevalence of empty trips, cargo-free freight movements that increase logistics costs, reduce fleet utilisation, and generate avoidable emissions.
This study addresses empty trips from a national, system-level planning perspective by introducing a spatio-temporal synchronisation model that identifies opportunities to coordinate independent freight movements travelling in opposite directions based on temporal and spatial compatibility. By relying on aggregated information rather than firm-level routing optimisation, the model enables scalable coordination across the freight network without requiring centralised control.
Two algorithms were developed to estimate current empty-trip rates from observed trip sequences and the minimum achievable rate under ideal synchronisation. Applied to more than 7.99 million trips from Colombia’s National Freight Registry, the results indicate that synchronisation could reduce empty kilometres by up to 39.34% for light and medium-duty vehicles and 37.37% for heavy-duty vehicles, corresponding to an estimated annual reduction of 130,470 tons of CO2e.
The study also introduces the concept of structural residual empty trip revenue (SRETR) to assess the economic potential of empty trips that remain unavoidable under optimal coordination. These insights support policymakers in prioritising interventions, addressing regional freight imbalances, and integrating operational efficiency measures into national decarbonisation strategies.
This study introduces a simulation-based analysis of the decarbonization options for the road freight transport sector. It focuses on exploring the impact of operational and management measures on fleet renewal strategies aimed at achieving net zero goals by 2050. The proposed approach integrates current and planned future policy changes, operational practices, and technology renewal into the modeling process to offer a macro-level perspective on the decarbonization challenge. Specifically, the proposed modeling approach takes into account the reduction of empty trips, the optimization of cargo consolidation, and the promotion of eco-driving practices based on national freight transport data (i.e. covering more than 7.99 million trips). The proposed approach examines the effect of introducing contemporary vehicle technologies, such as new diesel vehicles (EURO VI or higher), new natural gas vehicles (EURO VI or higher), electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles, as feasible replacements for aging vehicles powered by conventional fossil fuels. The adoption of these cleaner and newer technologies demonstrates the potential for emission reductions of up to 13% (2,070,000 tons CO2e) by 2030 and 47% (13,232,000 tons CO2e) by 2050. In addition, the results obtained from this research can serve as an exemplary case study for other emerging economies.
