A Hybrid CD/VND Algorithm for the Container Loading Problem

This paper presents a novel hybrid approach for solving the Container Loading (CL) problem based on the combination of caving degree (CD) algorithm and variable neighborhood descent (VND) algorithm. More precisely, the first constructive phase is based on a caving degree (CD) heuristic developed for the single container loading problem. In the second improvement phase, four new moves are designed and combined in a VND structure. The resulting hybrid CD/VND algorithm is simple and quite fast and the extensive computational results on test instances from the literature show that the quality of the solutions is equal to or better than that obtained by the best existing heuristic procedures.