Combination of nearest neighbor and heuristics algorithms for sequential two dimensional loading capacitated vehicle routing problem

Abstract

Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) is a method for determining the optimal route of vehicles in order to serve customers starting from depot. Combination of the two most important problems in distribution logistics, which is called the two dimensional loading vehicle routing problem, is considered in this paper. This problem combines the loading of the freight into the vehicles and the successive routing of the vehicles along the route. Moreover, an additional feature of last-in-first-out loading sequencesis also considered. In the sequential two dimensional loading capacitated vehicle routing problem (sequential 2L-CVRP), the loading must be compatible with the trip sequence: when the vehicle arrives at a customer i, there must be no obstacle (items for other customers) between the item of i and the loading door (rear part) of the vehicle. In other words, it is not necessary to move non-i’s items whenever the unloading process of the items of i. According with aforementioned conditions, a program to solve sequential 2L-CVRP is required. A nearest neighbor algorithm for solving the routing problem is presented, in which the loading component of the problem is solved through a collection of 5 packing heuristics.