Solving the capacitated vehicle routing problem with environmental criteria based on real estimations in road transportation: a case study

Abstract

One of the most important objectives in company logistics is the optimization of goods distribution considering the whole value chain. There are many algorithms to optimise the capacitated vehicle routing problems (CVRP) associated to problems of road transportation. The objective function of those problems usually involves distance, cost, number of vehicles, or profits, among others. In this contribution we also take into account environmental costs. Here, we want to manage environmental costs estimations based on surveys about road transportation crossing rural areas having valuable biological and natural stock. Thus, we develop some variants (AWEC) to traditional heuristic algorithms, such as those of Clarke and Wright or Mole and Jameson, in which we include environmental cost estimates in real scenarios in Spain. This raises the value of the global objective function, but permits a more realistic cost estimate that includes not only the internal costs involved in the problem but also the related externalities. Finally, we discuss several solutions to a real case in the agribusiness sector in Navarre (Spain)