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A multi-objective two-echelon vehicle routing problem. An urban goods movement approach for smart city logistics

Abstract:

Current trends of urbanization and growing economies bring with them rising levels of traffic congestion and city governments must recur to new strategies to deal with such problems. Multi-level distribution is an already-known strategy employed by businesses, and the classic formulation of the Two-Echelon Vehicle Routing Problem (2E-VRP) reflects the perspective of a single provider, without regarding the routing decisions of other parties. The lack of coordination between providers executing their individual schedules and, consequently, the lack of a holistic approach to urban traffic may cause further problems. Additionally, the various stakeholders (government, businesses, residents) may have conflicting objectives. The main contribution of this paper is a first-time multi-objective formulation of the multi-provider (or multi-commodity) heterogeneous vehicle 2E-VRP, from a city government perspective within an Urban Goods Movement context, demonstrating with didactic examples the potential benefit of this approach to all parties involved, simultaneously considering potentially conflicting objectives.