The two-dimensional vector packing problem with piecewise linear cost function (2DVPP-PLC) is a practical problem faced by a manufacturer of children׳s apparel that ships products using courier service. The manufacturer must ship a number of items using standard-sized cartons, where the cost of...

This paper studies a problem encountered by a buying office for one of the largest retail distributors in the world. An important task for the buying office is to plan the distribution of goods from Asia to various destinations across Europe. The goods are transported along shipping lanes by...

In this work, we investigate a new, yet practical, variant of the vehicle routing problem called the vehicle routing problem with time windows and link capacity constraints (VRPTWLC). The problem considers new constraints imposed on road links with regard to vehicle passing tonnage, which is...

This paper addresses a real-life public patient transportation problem derived from the Hong Kong Hospital Authority (HKHA), which provides ambulance transportation services for disabled and elderly patients from one location to another. We model the problem as a multi-trip dial-a-ride problem...

In this work, we study a new shipment consolidation and transportation problem in crossdocking distribution networks that considers trade-offs between transportation costs, inventory and time scheduling requirements. Transportation costs include time costs, truck setup costs, and the number of...

The container pre-marshalling problem (CPMP) aims to rearrange containers in a bay with the least movement effort; thus, in the final layout, containers are piled according to a predetermined order. Previous researchers, without exception, assumed that all the stacks in a bay are functionally...