Dynamic Fleet Management for International Truck Transportation

Recent developments in IC technologies have facilitated the practical application of dynamic vehicle routing systems. So far, most of the available dynamic approaches have dealt with local area environments. In this work, however, the focus is set to wide area dynamic freight transportation (tramp transportation mode) covering the entire European continent. We develop and evaluate two new dynamic planning approaches and incorporate all important real-life restrictions, such as regulations on driving hours (EC 561), working hours and traffic bans. Extensive numerical tests are carried out with a five-week real-life data set from an international freight forwarding company. The results indicate that significant improvements, especially in terms of empty kilometers and service quality, can be achieved.