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Using biased randomization for solving the two-dimensional loading vehicle routing problem with heterogeneous fleet

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Abstract

This paper discusses the two-dimensional loading capacitated vehicle routing problem (2L-CVRP) with heterogeneous fleet (2L-HFVRP). The 2L-CVRP can be found in many real-life situations related to the transportation of voluminous items where two-dimensional packing restrictions have to be considered, e.g.: transportation of heavy machinery, forklifts, professional cleaning equipment, etc. Here, we also consider a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles, comprising units of different capacities, sizes and fixed/variable costs. Despite the fact that heterogeneous fleets are quite ubiquitous in real-life scenarios, there is a lack of publications in the literature discussing the 2L-HFVRP. In particular, to the best of our knowledge no previous work discusses the non-oriented 2L-HFVRP, in which items are allowed to be rotated during the truck-loading process. After describing and motivating the problem, a literature review on related work is performed. Then, a multi-start algorithm based on biased randomization of routing and packing heuristics is proposed. A set of computational experiments contribute to illustrate the scope of our approach, as well as to show its efficiency.

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Acknowledgments

This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (TRA2010-21644-C03) and by the Ibero-American Programme for Science, Technology and Development (CYTED2010-511RT0419), in the context of the IN3-HAROSA Network (http://dpcs.uoc.edu). Similarly, we appreciate the financial support of the Sustainable TransMET Network funded by the Government of Navarre (Spain) inside the Jerónimo de Ayanz programme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Intelligent Systems and Numerical Applications in Engineering (SIANI), University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 35017, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain

    Oscar Dominguez

  2. Department of Computer Science, Multimedia, and Telecommunication, IN3-Open University of Catalonia, 08018, Barcelona, Spain

    Angel A. Juan & Barry Barrios

  3. Department of Statistics and Operations Research, Public University of Navarre, 31006, Pamplona, Spain

    Javier Faulin & Alba Agustin

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  1. Oscar Dominguez
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Correspondence to Javier Faulin.

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Dominguez, O., Juan, A.A., Barrios, B. et al. Using biased randomization for solving the two-dimensional loading vehicle routing problem with heterogeneous fleet. Ann Oper Res 236, 383–404 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-014-1551-4

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