IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/joheur/v31y2025i2d10.1007_s10732-025-09555-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A reliability-extended simheuristic for the sustainable vehicle routing problem with stochastic travel times and demands

Author

Listed:
  • Hassana Abdullahi

    (University of Portsmouth
    Cardiff Metropolitan University)

  • Lorena Reyes-Rubiano

    (Public University of Navarra
    Chair of Data and Business Analytics)

  • Djamila Ouelhadj

    (University of Portsmouth)

  • Javier Faulin

    (Public University of Navarra)

  • Angel A. Juan

    (Universitat Politècnica de València)

Abstract

Real-life transport operations are often subject to uncertainties in travel time or customers’ demands. Additionally, these uncertainties greatly impact the economic, environmental, and social costs of vehicle routing plans. Thus, analysing the sustainability costs of transportation activities and reliability in the presence of uncertainties is essential for decision makers. Accordingly, this paper addresses the Sustainable Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Travel times and Demands. This paper proposes a novel weighted stochastic recourse model that models travel time and demand uncertainties. To solve this challenging problem, we propose an extended simheuristic that integrates reliability analysis to evaluate the reliability of the generated solutions in the presence of uncertainties. An extensive set of computational experiments is carried out to illustrate the potential of the proposed approach and analyse the influence of stochastic components on the different sustainability dimensions.

Suggested Citation

  • Hassana Abdullahi & Lorena Reyes-Rubiano & Djamila Ouelhadj & Javier Faulin & Angel A. Juan, 2025. "A reliability-extended simheuristic for the sustainable vehicle routing problem with stochastic travel times and demands," Journal of Heuristics, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 1-39, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joheur:v:31:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10732-025-09555-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10732-025-09555-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10732-025-09555-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10732-025-09555-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gendreau, Michel & Laporte, Gilbert & Seguin, Rene, 1996. "Stochastic vehicle routing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 3-12, January.
    2. Javier Panadero & Jana Doering & Renatas Kizys & Angel A. Juan & Angels Fito, 2020. "A variable neighborhood search simheuristic for project portfolio selection under uncertainty," Journal of Heuristics, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 353-375, June.
    3. Jesica Armas & Angel A. Juan & Joan M. Marquès & João Pedro Pedroso, 2017. "Solving the deterministic and stochastic uncapacitated facility location problem: from a heuristic to a simheuristic," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(10), pages 1161-1176, October.
    4. Ruiz, Ruben & Stutzle, Thomas, 2008. "An Iterated Greedy heuristic for the sequence dependent setup times flowshop problem with makespan and weighted tardiness objectives," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 187(3), pages 1143-1159, June.
    5. A Gruler & C Fikar & A A Juan & P Hirsch & C Contreras-Bolton, 2017. "Supporting multi-depot and stochastic waste collection management in clustered urban areas via simulation–optimization," Journal of Simulation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(1), pages 11-19, February.
    6. Uchoa, Eduardo & Pecin, Diego & Pessoa, Artur & Poggi, Marcus & Vidal, Thibaut & Subramanian, Anand, 2017. "New benchmark instances for the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 257(3), pages 845-858.
    7. Jones, Dylan, 2011. "A practical weight sensitivity algorithm for goal and multiple objective programming," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 213(1), pages 238-245, August.
    8. Dimitris J. Bertsimas, 1992. "A Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Demand," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 40(3), pages 574-585, June.
    9. Satyajith Amaran & Nikolaos V. Sahinidis & Bikram Sharda & Scott J. Bury, 2016. "Simulation optimization: a review of algorithms and applications," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 240(1), pages 351-380, May.
    10. Mark Delucchi & Don McCubbin, 2011. "External Costs of Transport in the United States," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 15, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Dror, Moshe & Trudeau, Pierre, 1986. "Stochastic vehicle routing with modified savings algorithm," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 23(2), pages 228-235, February.
    12. Chen, Anthony & Zhou, Zhong, 2010. "The [alpha]-reliable mean-excess traffic equilibrium model with stochastic travel times," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 493-513, May.
    13. Zhang, Jianghua & Zhao, Yingxue & Xue, Weili & Li, Jin, 2015. "Vehicle routing problem with fuel consumption and carbon emission," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 170(PA), pages 234-242.
    14. Juan, Angel A. & Faulin, Javier & Grasman, Scott E. & Rabe, Markus & Figueira, Gonçalo, 2015. "A review of simheuristics: Extending metaheuristics to deal with stochastic combinatorial optimization problems," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 2(C), pages 62-72.
    15. Gilbert Laporte & François Louveaux & Hélène Mercure, 1992. "The Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Travel Times," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 26(3), pages 161-170, August.
    16. Tan, K.C. & Cheong, C.Y. & Goh, C.K., 2007. "Solving multiobjective vehicle routing problem with stochastic demand via evolutionary computation," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 177(2), pages 813-839, March.
    17. Koç, Çağrı & Bektaş, Tolga & Jabali, Ola & Laporte, Gilbert, 2014. "The fleet size and mix pollution-routing problem," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 239-254.
    18. Oscar L Domínguez Rivero & Angel A Juan Pérez & Ignacio A de la Nuez Pestana & Djamila Ouelhadj, 2016. "An ILS-biased randomization algorithm for the two-dimensional loading HFVRP with sequential loading and items rotation," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 67(1), pages 37-53, January.
    19. Hatami, Sara & Ruiz, Rubén & Andrés-Romano, Carlos, 2015. "Heuristics and metaheuristics for the distributed assembly permutation flowshop scheduling problem with sequence dependent setup times," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 169(C), pages 76-88.
    20. Goodson, Justin C. & Ohlmann, Jeffrey W. & Thomas, Barrett W., 2012. "Cyclic-order neighborhoods with application to the vehicle routing problem with stochastic demand," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 217(2), pages 312-323.
    21. Yang, Meng & Ni, Yaodong & Song, Qinyu, 2022. "Optimizing driver consistency in the vehicle routing problem under uncertain environment," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    22. Jorge Oyola & Halvard Arntzen & David L. Woodruff, 2017. "The stochastic vehicle routing problem, a literature review, Part II: solution methods," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 6(4), pages 349-388, December.
    23. Frank A. Tillman, 1969. "The Multiple Terminal Delivery Problem with Probabilistic Demands," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 3(3), pages 192-204, August.
    24. Gilbert Laporte & FranÇois V. Louveaux & Luc van Hamme, 2002. "An Integer L -Shaped Algorithm for the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Demands," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 50(3), pages 415-423, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Prasanna Balaprakash & Mauro Birattari & Thomas Stützle & Marco Dorigo, 2015. "Estimation-based metaheuristics for the single vehicle routing problem with stochastic demands and customers," Computational Optimization and Applications, Springer, vol. 61(2), pages 463-487, June.
    2. Alan L. Erera & Juan C. Morales & Martin Savelsbergh, 2010. "The Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Demand and Duration Constraints," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(4), pages 474-492, November.
    3. Jiang, J. & Ng, K.M. & Teo, K.M., 2016. "Satisficing measure approach for vehicle routing problem with time windows under uncertaintyAuthor-Name: Nguyen, V.A," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 248(2), pages 404-414.
    4. Laporte, Gilbert, 2024. "Fifty years of operational research: 1972–2022," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 319(2), pages 347-360.
    5. Jinil Han & Chungmok Lee & Sungsoo Park, 2014. "A Robust Scenario Approach for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Uncertain Travel Times," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(3), pages 373-390, August.
    6. Jorge E. Mendoza & Bruno Castanier & Christelle Guéret & Andrés L. Medaglia & Nubia Velasco, 2011. "Constructive Heuristics for the Multicompartment Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Demands," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 45(3), pages 346-363, August.
    7. Luo, Zhixing & Qin, Hu & Zhang, Dezhi & Lim, Andrew, 2016. "Adaptive large neighborhood search heuristics for the vehicle routing problem with stochastic demands and weight-related cost," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 69-89.
    8. Jorge Oyola & Halvard Arntzen & David L. Woodruff, 2018. "The stochastic vehicle routing problem, a literature review, part I: models," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 7(3), pages 193-221, September.
    9. Ann M. Campbell & Barrett W. Thomas, 2008. "Probabilistic Traveling Salesman Problem with Deadlines," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 42(1), pages 1-21, February.
    10. Karels, Vincent C.G. & Rei, Walter & Veelenturf, Lucas P. & Van Woensel, Tom, 2024. "A vehicle routing problem with multiple service agreements," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 313(1), pages 129-145.
    11. Jorge Oyola & Halvard Arntzen & David L. Woodruff, 2017. "The stochastic vehicle routing problem, a literature review, Part II: solution methods," EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics, Springer;EURO - The Association of European Operational Research Societies, vol. 6(4), pages 349-388, December.
    12. Florent Hernandez & Michel Gendreau & Ola Jabali & Walter Rei, 2019. "A local branching matheuristic for the multi-vehicle routing problem with stochastic demands," Journal of Heuristics, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 215-245, April.
    13. Li, Xiangyong & Tian, Peng & Leung, Stephen C.H., 2010. "Vehicle routing problems with time windows and stochastic travel and service times: Models and algorithm," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 137-145, May.
    14. Bertazzi, Luca & Secomandi, Nicola, 2018. "Faster rollout search for the vehicle routing problem with stochastic demands and restocking," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 270(2), pages 487-497.
    15. Seyedmehdi Mirmohammadsadeghi & Shamsuddin Ahmed, 2015. "Memetic Heuristic Approach for Solving Truck and Trailer Routing Problems with Stochastic Demands and Time Windows," Networks and Spatial Economics, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1093-1115, December.
    16. Nicola Secomandi & François Margot, 2009. "Reoptimization Approaches for the Vehicle-Routing Problem with Stochastic Demands," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 214-230, February.
    17. Aykagan Ak & Alan L. Erera, 2007. "A Paired-Vehicle Recourse Strategy for the Vehicle-Routing Problem with Stochastic Demands," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 41(2), pages 222-237, May.
    18. Goodson, Justin C. & Ohlmann, Jeffrey W. & Thomas, Barrett W., 2012. "Cyclic-order neighborhoods with application to the vehicle routing problem with stochastic demand," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 217(2), pages 312-323.
    19. Krishna Chepuri & Tito Homem-de-Mello, 2005. "Solving the Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Demands using the Cross-Entropy Method," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 134(1), pages 153-181, February.
    20. Gendreau, Michel & Laporte, Gilbert & Seguin, Rene, 1996. "Stochastic vehicle routing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 3-12, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:joheur:v:31:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10732-025-09555-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.