Firefly Algorithm with Tabu Search to Solve the Vehicle Routing Problem with Minimized Fuel Emissions: Case Study of Canned Fruits Transport

Abstract

Nowadays, logistics is used to assess economic growth and address energy consumption and environmental problems. Optimizing collection and delivery routes reduces fuel consumption and cost, thereby minimizing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) is addressed to identify routes that minimize total transportation costs, fuel consumption, and GHG emissions based on collection and delivery activities. Firefly Algorithm (FA) integrated with Tabu Search (TS) as (FATS) was proposed within the case study concerning canned fruit transport. The results showed that the proposed method outperformed the existing approaches and reduced the fuel consumption from 31,286 to 26,314 litres per year. The proposed algorithm also reduced the number of used vehicles from seven to six, as five 6-wheel trucks and one 4-wheel truck, with transportation cost reduced from 1,061,851 to 893,108 Baht per year, as well as greenhouse gas emissions, which were reduced from 90,730 to 76,312 kg CO2 per year.