Scheduling drayage operations in synchromodal transport

Abstract

We study the problem of scheduling drayage operations in synchromodal transport. Besides the usual decisions to time the pick-up and delivery of containers, and to route the vehicles that transport them, synchromodal transport includes the assignment of terminals for empty and loaded containers. The challenge consists of simultaneously deciding on these three aspects while considering various resource and timing restrictions. We model the problem using mixed integer linear programming (MILP) and design a matheuristic to solve it. Our algorithm iteratively confines the solution space of the MILP using several adaptations, and based on the incumbent solutions, guides the subsequent iterations and solutions. We test our algorithm under different problem configurations and provide insights into their relation to the three aspects of scheduling drayage operations in synchromodal transport.