Impact of travel time uncertainties on the solution cost of a two-echelon vehicle routing problem with synchronization

Abstract

Two-echelon vehicle routing problems which contain synchronization between vehicles can be deeply impacted by time uncertainty, because one vehicle's delay can propagate to other vehicles. In this paper, we evaluate the deterministic solution of such a problem based on simulated travel time scenarios. The information obtained by simulation is incorporated in the optimization procedure iteratively. Computational results show that the degree of synchronization in an instance is directly correlated with the potential improvements by reoptimization. We present findings on the number of travel time scenarios required to obtain a representative picture of the stochastic solutions. In addition, we demonstrate that time dependent travel times can be aggregated on a city-wide level and linearized as a function of free flow times without major loss of reliability.

An adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic for multi-commodity two-echelon vehicle routing problem with satellite synchronization

“…The authors considered pairwise synchronization constraints in the pickup and delivery stage respectively. Anderluh, Larsen, Hemmelmayr, Nolz [2] considered a 2E-VRP with spatial and temporal synchronization and proposed a two-stage greedy randomized adaptive search procedure with path relinking.…”

A matheuristic for a 2-echelon vehicle routing problem with capacitated satellites and reverse flows

“…The practical relevance of timing aspects has led to the introduction of several other 2E-VRP variants covering new technologies and real-world features such as electric vehicles (Jie et al, 2019), cargo bikes with swap containers (Mühlbauer and Fontaine, 2021), and multiple commodities provided by different UDCs (Dellaert et al, 2021). Anderluh et al (2020) analyzed and discussed the impact of stochastic travel times on costs.…”

A novel location-inventory-routing problem in a two-stage red meat supply chain with logistic decisions: evidence from an emerging economy

“…For instance, from a supply chain design and management perspective, Jafarian et al (2019) proposed a multi-period, multi-product inventory-routing problem with a heterogeneous vehicle fleet, by considering the likelihood of vehicle failure via a metaheuristic algorithm. Moreover, Anderluh et al (2019) proposed a model for a two-echelon vehicle routing problem by considering time uncertainty thru a two-stage GRASP with path relinking. However, in this research, in addition to investigating vehicle routing and inventory problems, operational decisions in production, inventory and location are also addressed.…”