A hybrid algorithm for the Truck-and-Trailer Routing Problem with time windows

The Truck-and-Trailer Routing Problem (TTRP) is a variant of the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP). The TTRP extends the basic VRP to take a real-life application into account. This study considers TTRP with time window constraints, and establishes a mathematical model. In addition, a two-stage hybrid algorithm is proposed to solve the problem. In the first stage, the rule of Nearest Neighborhood is applied to produce the initial feasible solutions; and in the second stage, the solutions are carried into the route improvement by the tabu search algorithm. Compared with the results obtained by Lingo, the hybrid algorithm can obtain good quality solutions with less time cost for most cases. Moreover, this research establishes a test bank of 18 TTRPTW questions, and composes the program by the C language to carry out the test on personal PC. The test results show the solution produced by the algorithm can reduce the total cost effectively.