Solving the collaborative bidirectional multi-period vehicle routing problems under a profit-sharing agreement using a covering model

Abstract

This paper introduces a covering model for collaborative bidirectional multi-period vehicle routing problems under profit-sharing agreements (CB-VRPPA) in bulk transportation (BT) networks involving one control tower and multiple shippers and carriers. The objective is to maximize the total profits of all parties subject to profit allocation constraints among carriers, terminal capability limitations, transport capability limitations and time-window constraints. The proposed method includes three stages: (a) generate all feasible routes of each carrier, (b) eliminate unattractive feasible routes via a proposed screening technique to reduce the initial problem size, and (c) solve the reduced problem using a branch-and-bound algorithm. Computational experiments are performed for real-life, medium-and large-scale instances. The proposed method provides satisfactory results when applied to solve the CB-VRPPA. We also conduct a sensitivity analysis on a critical parameter of the profit-sharing agreement to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method.

A Memetic Algorithm to Solve the Two-Echelon Collaborative Multi-Centre Multi-Periodic Vehicle Routing Problem with Specific Constraints

“…To deal with the different challenges, distribution companies are constrained to treat their competitors differently by introducing new forms of interaction. Therefore, various forms of collaboration are emerging in this sector that show an important potential benefits [15], [16], [17], [18], [19]. Moreover, different variants of the routing problem in a collaborative setting have been explored.…”

“…The dynamic collaborative pickup and delivery problem which relies on a peer-to-peer platform that matches ad hoc drivers or backup vehicles to deliver tasks in real time is introduced in [1]. In [17], Maneengam et al developed the centralized collaborative bidirectional multi-period vehicle routing problem under profit-sharing agreements, where the collection and integration of information and resources are done by a control tower. The tower establishes a collaborative transport planning respecting the profit-sharing agreements.…”

The Impacts of the Cross-Chain Collaboration Center Model on Transportation Performance: A Case Study of a Bulk Transportation Network in Thailand

“…In this paper, we presented an integer liner programming model to explain the CBMVRP in one CTN; this integer liner programming model aimed to find the number of vehicles required for route r of carrier ki from all feasible routes in set Rki in each period t for the CBMVRP based on the model formulation of Maneengam and Udomsakdigool [19]. This integer liner programming model can be used to solve the problems for both collaboration models, and the two collaboration models differ based on the total cost of multiple transportation chains and management costs.…”

“…Shi et al [18] proposed a method to solve the collaborative multi-carrier vehicle routing problem to reduce transportation costs and share the profit fairly with individual players. Maneengam and Udomsakdigool [19] proposed a covering model with a screening technique to reduce the initial problem size for collaborative bidirectional multi-period vehicle routing problems under profit-sharing agreements in bulk transportation. Wang et al [20] developed a multi-objective optimization model to formulate the multi-depot multiperiod vehicle routing problem with pickups and deliveries.…”

A Set Covering Model for a Green Ship Routing and Scheduling Problem with Berth Time-Window Constraints for Use in the Bulk Cargo Industry

“…Step 1: Use the backtracking algorithm developed by Maneengam and Udomsakdigool [39,40] to generate all feasible routes in job sequence format. Then, keep all feasible routes that satisfy constraints (1)-( 5) as candidate routes.…”