The Multi-Trip Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows and Release Dates

In this paper the Multi Trip Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows and Release Dates is introduced. The problem is particularly interesting in the City Logistics context, where trucks deliver merchandise to depots located in the outskirts of the city. Goods continuously arrive during the day becoming available for final distribution after the working day has started. This introduces the concept of release dates associated with merchandise. In this paper, a set of instances is introduced and a hybrid genetic algorithm is proposed to solve the problem.