Multi-trip multi-compartment vehicle routing problem with backhauls

The Multi-Trip Multi-Compartment Vehicle Routing Problem with Backhauls (MTMCVRPB) is a complex optimization problem that involves finding the most efficient routes for a heterogeneous fleet of multi-compartment vehicles to transport heterogeneous commodities simultaneously. The problem involves making deliveries and pickups while taking into account capacity constraints on compartments and other specific requirements such as limitation on route length. The MTMCVRPB aims to minimize the total cost of the routes, including the cost of vehicles, fuel and other expenses, while maximizing efficiency of vehicles and fulfilling the demand of customers. In order to address the MTMCVRPB, this article recommends a mixed integer linear programming formulation. The proposed model takes into consideration the demands of both linehaul and backhaul customers, ensuring that on each route linehaul deliveries are made before visiting any backhaul customer. The model was tested on randomly generated data sets and numerical experiments were performed to demonstrate effectiveness of the model. The proposed model can be beneficial for the industries such as grocery and food delivery, fuel distribution and garbage collection etc., as these represent some application areas of the model. This article also presents a saving based heuristic for the proposed model.