Freight Consolidation Problem with Time Windows, Pickup and Delivery Sequence

Abstract

The number of online market places for freight matching is on the rise. Online market places help small trucking companies find shipping customers. However, they do not provide cargo consolidation strategies. This lack of effective consolidation has adverse effects on the shipping industry and greenhouse gas emission. To that extent, this article addresses Multiple Vehicle Pickup and Delivery Problem with Time Windows (MVPDPTW). We propose a Mixed Integer Programming (MIP) model and a branch-and-cut algorithm geared towards identifying effective freight consolidation opportunities. For emission studies, we used a cost conversion technique from the literature to convert emission levels into monetary values. On real-world logistics company test instances, our model identified routes with lower cost and lower emission levels than the actual routes.