Tractor and Trailer Routing in a Less Than Truckload Network

摘要

In Less Than Truckload (LTL) trucking, freight loaded onto trucks, once picked up from or dropped off by customers, are consolidated into 28' pup trailers at end of line terminals, and then shipped/routed through the LTL company's transportation network break-bulk terminals. Break-bulk terminal, while also potentially performing end of line terminal functions (I.e., delivery/pickup of customer freight in the local area), handles through freight which often must be consolidated with other shipments heading in the same network direction. In this paper, LTL tractor and trailer pair movement between break-bulk terminals is considered. We present a mixed-integer program (MIP) to minimize total transportation costs (including empty miles) while determining both tractor and trailer routes in an LTL transportation network and then discuss results from a broad, designed experiment.