A tabu search heuristic for the heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem

• Published in: Computers & operations research Vol. 26; no. 12; pp. 1153 - 1173
• Main Authors: Gendreau, Michel, Laporte, Gilbert, Musaraganyi, Christophe, Taillard, Éric D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.10.1999; Elsevier Science; Pergamon Press Inc
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Computer programming; Exact sciences and technology; Fleet mix; Flows in networks. Combinatorial problems; Heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem; Heuristic; Operational research and scientific management; Operational research. Management science; Operations research; Routing; Searches; Studies; Tabu search heuristic; Tabu search heuristic; Fleet mix; Heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem; Local search; Fleet; Tabu search; Algorithm; Vehicle routing problem; Local optimum
• ISSN: 0305-0548; 1873-765X; 0305-0548
• DOI: 10.1016/S0305-0548(98)00100-2

The Heterogeneous Fleet Vehicle Routing Problem (HVRP) is a variant of the classical Vehicle Routing Problem in which customers are served by a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles with various capacities, fixed costs, and variable costs. This article describes a tabu search heuristic for the HVRP. On a set of benchmark instances, it consistently produces high-quality solutions, including several new best-known solutions. Scope and purpose In distribution management, it is often necessary to determine a combination of least cost vehicle routes through a set of geographically scattered customers, subject to side constraints. The case most frequently studied is where all vehicles are identical. This article proposes a solution methodology for the case where the vehicle fleet is heterogeneous. It describes an efficient tabu search heuristic capable of producing high-quality solutions on a series of benchmark test problems.