BI-OBJECTIVE APPROACHES TO DEAL WITH ACCIDENT RISK AND LOGISTIC COSTS IN VEHICLE ROUTING PROBLEMS

Abstract

Vehicle Routing Problems (VRP) have been widely researched throughout history as a way of optimising routes by minimising distances and planning deliveries efficiently, but the issue of risk in VRP has received less attention over time. This is essential to increasing transport safety to avoid interruptions in supply chains and improve delivery reliability. Therefore, this study aims to support decision makers to plan routes for road freight transportation considering not only the logistics cost, but also travel safety due to road hazards. An analytical approach based on statistics was developed in which data of vehicle accidents and road features were used to estimate the risk cost by using the Monte Carlo simulation. A bi-objective approach based on PROMETHEE II and ε-constrained methods was used in the Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem (CVRP) to analyse the conflict between the logistic cost and accident risk. Key contributions of this study are an analytical approach based on statistics, Monte Carlo simulation and multicriteria methods in a CVRP model to explore the trade-off between logistic costs and accident risk expressed by a risk cost. The outcomes of this study show to be useful in practice to analyse transportation decisions in the VRP model involving route planning considering accident risk.