Simheuristics Algorithms for Two-Echelon Vehicle Routing Problem with Stochastic Travel Time and Mobile Satellites Synchronization

Two-echelon vehicle routing problem (2E-VRP) can address the intricacies of distribution networks by incorporating two vehicles in different sizes with the intermediate points called "satellites". This study focus on synchronizing mobile satellites for stochastic travel time (2E-VRP-ST), which have not ever been examined by previous studies, considering the first echelon vehicles at the customer location to be mobile satellites and synchronize the second echelon vehicles to not return to their departure. "Simheuristics" were used to tackle the complexity of stochastic travel time, with the mathematical model to validate, before implementing to the Vietnamese context. The experiment used benchmark data and real case study data to prove the outstanding performance of simulation for Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm that the case study company can implement to improve their operation. Although this study has generated a big contribution to the literature review, there remains a need for further expansion and development.