Metaheuristics for the vehicle routing problem with loading constraints

We consider a combination of the capacitated vehicle routing problem and a class of additional loading constraints involving a parallel machine scheduling problem. The work is motivated by a real-world transportation problem occurring to a wood-products retailer, which delivers its products to a number of customers in a specific region. We solve the problem by means of two different metaheuristics algorithms: a Tabu Search and an Ant Colony Optimization. Extensive computational results are given for both algorithms, on instances derived from the vehicle routing literature and on real-world instances.

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: NETWORKS
• Authors: Karl F. Doerner, Guenther Fuellerer, Richard F. Hartl, Manfred Gronalt, Manuel Iori
• Keywords: Additional Loading Constraints, Computer Networks, NETWORKS 2007, Real-world Transportation Problem, Vehicle Routing Problem