Optimization of Transportation Routing Problem for Fresh Food by Improved Ant Colony Algorithm Based on Tabu Search

Abstract

With the continuous improvement of people's living standards and their increasing demand for fresh food, the cold chain logistics industry has developed rapidly. One of the biggest challenges to today's cold chain logistics is to offer fresh food while minimizing CO 2 emissions. The fresh degree and CO 2 emissions are involved in the vehicle routing optimization problem in the cold chain logistics. In order to meet the quality requirement for fresh agricultural products and low carbon logistics, a novel routing optimization model considering the costs of quality deterioration and carbon emissions (Low Carbon and Freshness Degrees Vehicle Routing Problem (LCFD-VRP)) for cold chain distribution was established in this study. This model takes into account the fixed cost, fuel cost and time window penalty cost. An improved ant colony algorithm (IACA) is used to optimize the whole vehicle distribution routing with its strong global search ability. Tabu Search (TS) algorithm is used to search the single vehicle distribution routing with its good local search ability. An IACA combined with TS (IACATS) was proposed to solve the above LCFD-VRP model. The practicability of the model and the effectiveness of the above improved algorithm are verified using a real case study. The results of Zhoushan Dayang Refrigerated Logistics Co., Ltd. showed that, compared with the traditional algorithm, IACATS could reduce the dispatching of two refrigerated vehicles, thus lowering the total cost by 4.94%, shortening the actual transportation distance by 5.50% and cutting the total CO 2 emissions by 8.9%. Therefore, the LCFD-VRP model can effectively help to achieve the low carbon emissions, multi-variety and low-cost distribution of fresh agricultural products. The proposed model and IACATS algorithm would be used to optimize VRP in cold chain enterprises. The results of this study also provide management suggestions for cold chain enterprises to effectively balance economic cost and environmental cost.Sustainability 2019, 11, 6584 2 of 22 has higher requirements for quality and timeliness [2]. The normal operation of refrigeration equipment produces a large amount of CO 2 emissions and other greenhouse gases generated from distribution vehicles in the process of delivery. It leads to an increase in greenhouse gases and, as a result, air pollution and greenhouse effect will be intensified. The increased carbon emissions not only pollute the environment, but also raise the cost of logistics enterprises due to the implementation of national carbon-taxing policies [3]. Therefore, how to reduce carbon emissions in cold chain logistics, thereby alleviating the global warming caused by the greenhouse effect, has become a popular issue in the research field of cold chain logistics distribution routes [4].In recent years, the optimization of cold chain logistics distribution routes has attracted extensive academic attention [5,6]. Although the above-mentioned studies have considered the impacts of various cost factors on cold chain logistics, t...

Optimization of Green Fresh Food Logistics with Heterogeneous Fleet Vehicle Route Problem by Improved Genetic Algorithm

“…Shukla et al integrated the transportation cost, damage cost of good and overtime penalty cost as the overall optimization goal of the model [30]. Chen et al considered the factors of carbon emission, fuel cost, freshness degradation of products and time windows penalty cost in fresh food logistics [7].…”

“…Nowadays, more and more people are enjoying the benefits from the fresh food logistics. However, the fresh food logistics is a special logistics mode with high energy consumption and high carbon emissions [7,8]. Due to the need to control the temperature of the freezing chamber, the refrigeration consumes electric energy resulting in a higher cost [9]; moreover, the fuel consumption and the carbon emission of the vehicle in fresh food logistics are higher than those of the ordinary logistics [10], which will cause more damage to the environment.…”

Vehicle Routing Optimization of Instant Distribution Routing Based on Customer Satisfaction

“…Constraint (6) restricts the number of orders delivered by each deliveryman to an upper limit of S. Constraint (7) restricts the distribution of Deliveryman k from Merchant i to Customer j. If there is a distribution relationship, it must simultaneously satisfy the requirement of passing through Merchant i. Constraint (8) indicates that the total delivery time is equal to the sum of the time from the current position of the deliveryman to the merchant, the time for the deliveryman to wait at the merchant, and the time from the merchant to the customer. Constraint (9) restricts the order quantity of each merchant's customers to be non-negative.…”

“…It was first put forward by Dantzig and Ramser (1959), proposing a near optimal solution based on a linear programming formulation in the shortest routes [1]. The objective function [1,2] based on total mileage or total cost was widely used in the early stage, and then practical factors, such as vehicle capacity limitation [3], the multi-distribution center [4], the time window [5][6][7], costs of quality deterioration, and carbon emissions [8] were introduced. These factors made the objective conditions of vehicle routing optimization more closely combined with the actual problems.…”

Evolutionary Game Analysis of Cold Chain Logistics Outsourcing of Fresh Food Enterprises With Operating Risks

“…Zhang et al [7] build an improved cold chain logistics system decision model using CPSO to minimize costs. Chen et al [8] consider the transportation routing problem for fresh food by improved ant colony algorithm based on tabu search. Li et al [9] study the problem of water transport of biosafety cuttlefish juice solar absorber toward remarkably enhanced solar-driven gas-liquid interfacial evaporation.…”