A hybrid algorithm for three-dimensional loading capacitated vehicle routing problems with time windows

Online shopping and fierce competition among logistics companies have led to unprecedented demand for logistics services. However, recent studies on the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) have considered only simple constraints. In this paper, we combine the Three-Dimensional Loading Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (3L-CVRP) with the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows (VRPTW) and describe a variant of the VRP, named 3L-CVRPTW. Apparently, 3L-CVRPTW accounts for the actual needs in the logistics industry. To address this problem, we first propose an innovative method for loading problems, applying a strategy of grouping customers, and adjusting the sequence of the boxes, which improves the loading efficiency. On this basis, we propose the Tabu-Neighborhood search and combine it with the Artificial Bee Colony(ABC), to generate the approximate optimal route. Compared with the recent relevant studies, our approach has a better performance on Zhang’s benchmarks and Solomon’s VRPTW instances.