Efficient metaheuristics to solve the intermodal terminal location problem

The objective of the intermodal terminal location problem is to determine which of a set of potential terminal locations to use and how to route the supply and demand of a set of customers (representing zones of supply and demand) through the network (by both uni- and intermodal transport) so as to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Computers & operations research 2012-09, Vol.39 (9), p.2079-2090
Main Authors: Sörensen, Kenneth, Vanovermeire, Christine, Busschaert, Sylvie
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Computing time
Exact sciences and technology
Ground, air and sea transportation, marine construction
Heuristic
Intermodal
Intermodal transportation
Location analysis
Logistics
Mathematical models
Metaheuristics
Operational research and scientific management
Operational research. Management science
Policies
Position (location)
Searching
Studies
Supply & demand
Supply and demand
Terminal location
Terminals
Transportation planning, management and economics
Transportation problem (Operations research)
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Summary:The objective of the intermodal terminal location problem is to determine which of a set of potential terminal locations to use and how to route the supply and demand of a set of customers (representing zones of supply and demand) through the network (by both uni- and intermodal transport) so as to minimize the total cost. Two different metaheuristic procedures are developed that both consist of two phases: a solution construction phase (either GRASP or attribute based hill climber) and a solution improvement phase based on local search. Innovative in this approach is the integration of a fast heuristic procedure to approximate the total cost given the set of open terminals. Both metaheuristics are compared to the results of an MIP solver. A thorough performance assessment uncovers that both metaheuristics generate close-to-optimal solutions in very short computing times. An argument in favor of the ABHC approach is that it is parameter-free and hence more transparent and likely to be accepted in a business or policy environment.
ISSN:0305-0548
1873-765X
0305-0548
DOI:10.1016/j.cor.2011.10.005