A deterministic annealing algorithm for the pre- and end-haulage of intermodal container terminals

Abstract

The drayage of containers in the service area of an intermodal barge terminal is modelled as a full truckload pickup and delivery problem with time windows (FTPDPTW). Initial solutions are generated with an insertion heuristic and improved with three local search operators. In a post-optimization phase the three search operators are integrated in a deterministic annealing (DA) framework. The mechanism of the heuristic procedures is demonstrated with a numerical example. A sensitivity analysis indicates that the DA algorithm is robust with respect to variations in threshold value and quality of the initial solution.