A generic model for the local container drayage problem using the emerging truck platooning operation mode

The local container drayage problem (LCDP) plays an important role in the waterborne transportation for global trade. Truck platooning is an emerging and promising container transportation mode in which a platoon is formed by a leading truck followed by a set of trucks using semi-automated technologies. This paper focuses on the truck platooning operation mode (TPOM) in which only the leading truck is human-driven. We also focus on attempts to exploit the advantages of the new operation mode, such as the ability to use multiple trucks simultaneously with only one driver. Moreover, one customer can be serviced by two different drivers through coordination, and one container can be shared among customers without returning to the depot. All of these advantages improve the LCDP operational performance. A mathematical model is proposed to capture these advantages and related features pertaining to this new operation mode. The model is compared, theoretically and numerically, with three well-studied LCDP models reported in the literature, and we prove that our model is a generalization of the previous three models. For even small-scale problems, CPLEX has difficulty achieving satisfactory solutions due to the NP-hardness and complicated structure of the problem. Therefore, a heuristic method that incorporates the learning mechanism based on the ant colony algorithm is proposed to overcome the problem. Extensive numerical experiments were conducted to validate the model and proposed methods, and the experimental results show that the benefits of the new operation mode can be achieved by increasing the platoon length and/or well coordinating the sharing of containers among customers.