Vehicle Routing Problems with Loading Constraints: An Overview of Variants and Solution Methods

This chapter combines two of the most studied combinatorial optimization problems, namely, the capacitated vehicle routing problem (CVRP) and the two/three–dimensional bin packing problem (2/3D–BPP). It focuses heavily on real–life transportation problems such as the transportation of furniture or industrial machinery. Loading and transporting items from the depot to different customers are practical problems that are regularly encountered within the logistics industry. The chapter provides an updated review of the variants of the L-CVRP studied in the literature and analyzes some of the most popular optimization methods presented in the existing literature. The 2L-CVRP is a variant of the classical CVRP characterized by the two-dimensionality of customer demand. The most studied 3L-CVRP variants are 3L-CVRP with time windows, 3L-CVRP with backhauls and 3L-CVRP with pickup and delivery. The 3L-CVRP is integrated with 3D-BPP constraints such as last in-first out; rotation of items; vertical stability; fragility and weight limit.