Tractor and Semitrailer Routing Problem of Highway Port Networks under Unbalanced Demand

Abstract

In China, highway port networks are essential in carrying out tractor and semitrailer transportation operations. To analyze the characteristics of tractor and semitrailer routing in highway port networks, this study examined the situation in which the demands at both ends of the operation might be unbalanced and multiple requirements might be raised in the operation of tractor and semitrailer transportation. An optimal tractor and semitrailer routing model for an entire network was established to reduce the total transportation costs and the number of towing vehicles in the network. Moreover, a heuristic algorithm was designed to solve the model. The comparisons of Strategy 1 and Strategy 2 for a two-stage network swap trailer show that the number of pure network swaps trailer tractors decreases by 21.6% and 18.6%, respectively; and that the cost drops by 7.8% and 7.9%, respectively. In other words, swap trailer transport enterprises can abandon the original swap trailer transportation mode for a two-stage network and adopt a routing optimization strategy for an entire network to achieve superior operation performance, reduce costs, and enhance profits. The study provides a reference for optimizing tractor and semitrailer routing in highway port networks with balanced and multiple demands