Routing design for Less-than-Truckload Motor Carriers using Ant Colony Optimization Articles uri icon

authors

  • BARCOS REDIN, LUCIA
  • RODRÍGUEZ, VICTORIA M.
  • ÁLVAREZ, Mª JESÚS
  • ROBUSTÉ, FRANCESC

publication date

  • May 2010

start page

  • 367

end page

  • 383

issue

  • 3

volume

  • 46

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 1366-5545

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1878-5794

abstract

  • One of the most important challenges that confronts less-than-truckload carriers serving many-to-many distribution networks consists of determining how to consolidate flows of small shipments. The objective is to determine a route for each origin-destination pair that minimizes the cost while still guaranteeing a certain level of service. This research studies different aspects of the problem and provides a metaheuristic algorithm (based on Ant Colony Optimization techniques) capable of solving real-life problems in a reasonable computational time. The viability of the approach has been tested with a real case in Spain and encouraging results have been obtained.