A set partitioning heuristic for local drayage routing under time-dependent port delay

This paper considers operations management for a fleet of trucks providing container pickup and delivery service (drayage) to a port. Truck congestion at ports may lead to serious inefficiencies in drayage operations. To mitigate the negative effects of congestion, this research develops a drayage operations optimization model that incorporates a known, time-dependent congestion delay model at the port. The model determines pickup and delivery sequences for trucks with minimum total travel time, including the waiting time accessing the port due to congestion. In this paper, we consider both exact and heuristic solution approaches for this difficult optimization problem. Finally, we use the framework to develop an understanding of the potential impact of congestion delays on drayage operations, and the value of planning with accurate delay information.