Vehicle Routing Optimisation in Humanitarian Operations: A Survey on Modelling and Optimisation Approaches
Source abstract
Abstract
The growing field of humanitarian operations is driven by frequent events of disasters seen in the world today. Within this field, Operations Research (OR) plays a critical role in alleviating the suffering of victims that are impacted by disasters. This paper focuses on the branch of a well-known OR problem, known as the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP), within the selected scope of humanitarian operations. A total of 123 papers of the last decade are reviewed and classified under the humanitarian operations of supply and delivery, evacuation as well as rescue operations. Besides specific disaster management phases and disaster types, various modelling challenges are highlighted, hinting towards a richer and more complex VRP seen under selected model characteristic classifications. Furthermore, established solution approaches, including hybrid solutions, are highlighted and classified, discussing how they are applied in the context of these humanitarian operations. The inclusion of a machine learning solution approach under the same classification is proposed. Finally, the trend and future outlook of VRP for the suggested humanitarian operations are discussed and highlighted.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Facility Location and Emergency Management · Vehicle Routing Optimization Methods · Transportation and Mobility Innovations
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Department of Logistics and Transportation, School of Technology Management and Logistics, Universiti Utara Malaysia, Sintok 06010, Kedah, Malaysia
Laboratory of Computational Statistics and Operations Research, Institute for Mathematical Research, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang 43400, Selangor, Malaysia
Fakultät für Informatik, Universität der Bundeswehr München, 85577 Neubiberg, Germany
Nottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Jalan Broga, Semenyih 43500, Selangor, Malaysia
Funding
Universiti Putra Malaysia
References (100+)
Show source-provided references
1. Humanitarian logistics and its challenges: The literature review
2. UN Office (2003). Glossary of humanitarian terms in relation to the protection of civilians in armed conflict. UN OCHA (2012): OCHA on Message: Humanitarian Principles. New York: UN OCHA. UN OCHA (nedatovno): Consolidated Appeal Process: About the Process, United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, UN Office.
3. Vehicle scheduling for emergency relief management: A knowledge-based approach10.1111/j.1467-7717.1988.tb00678.x ↗
4. De Vries, H., and Van Wassenhove, L.N. (2017). Evidence-Based Vehicle Planning for Humanitarian Field Operations, Social Innovation Centre. INSEAD Working Paper No. 2017/62/TOM/.10.2139/ssrn.3039320 ↗
5. Powell, W.B. (2007). Approximate Dynamic Programming: Solving the Curses of Dimensionality, John Wiley & Sons.10.1002/9780470182963 ↗
6. Anuar, W.K., Moll, M., Lee, L., Pickl, S., and Seow, H. (August, January 29). Vehicle Routing Optimization for Humanitarian Logistics in Disaster Recovery: A Survey. Proceedings of the 2019 International Conference on Security and Management (SAM’19), Las Vegas, NV, USA.
7. Disaster relief routing: Integrating research and practice10.1016/j.seps.2011.06.001 ↗
8. Golden, B.L., Kovacs, A.A., and Wasil, E.A. (2014). Vehicle Routing Applications in Disaster Relief, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics and the Mathematical Optimization Society. Chapter 14.10.1137/1.9781611973594.ch14 ↗
9. Two-stage stochastic programming in disaster management: A literature survey
10. Farahani, R.Z., Lotfi, M., Baghaian, A., Ruiz, R., and Rezapour, S. (2020). Mass casualty management in disaster scene: A systematic review of OR&MS research in humanitarian operations. Eur. J. Oper. Res., 287.10.1016/j.ejor.2020.03.005 ↗
11. Widuch, J. (2020). Current and emerging formulations and models of real-life rich vehicle routing problems. Smart Delivery Systems, Elsevier.10.1016/B978-0-12-815715-2.00006-3 ↗
12. Rich vehicle routing problem: Survey
13. Fifty years of vehicle routing10.1287/trsc.1090.0301 ↗
14. The truck dispatching problem10.1287/mnsc.6.1.80 ↗
15. The vehicle routing problem: State of the art classification and review10.1016/j.cie.2015.12.007 ↗
16. The vehicle routing problem: A taxonomic review10.1016/j.cie.2009.05.009 ↗
17. A survey on dynamic and stochastic vehicle routing problems10.1080/00207543.2015.1043403 ↗
18. Lahyani, R., Khemakhem, M., and Semet, F. (2012, January 17–19). Taxonomy for rich vehicle routing problems. Proceedings of the 1st International IEEE Conference on Logistics Operations Management, Le Havre, France.
19. Heuristics for multi-attribute vehicle routing problems: A survey and synthesis10.1016/j.ejor.2013.02.053 ↗
20. Stochastic vehicle routing10.1016/0377-2217(95)00050-X ↗
21. Reverse logistics and closed-loop supply chain: A comprehensive review to explore the future10.1016/j.ejor.2014.07.012 ↗
22. Mayring, P. (2003). Qualitative Inhaltanalyse Grundlagenund Techniken (Qualitative Content Analysis), Beltz.
23. Alexander, D.E. (2002). Principles of Emergency Planning and Management, Oxford University Press on Demand.
24. Heuristic methods and applications: A categorized survey10.1016/0377-2217(89)90412-8 ↗
25. Metaheuristics
26. 2015 Nepal earthquake: Analysis of child rescue and treatment by a field hospital10.1017/dmp.2016.22 ↗
27. Deployment of medical relief teams of the Indian Army in the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake: Lessons learned10.1017/dmp.2016.146 ↗
28. Radianti, J., Hiltz, S.R., and Labaka, L. (2016, January 5–8). An Overview of Public Concerns During the Recovery Period after a Major Earthquake: Nepal Twitter Analysis. Proceedings of the 2016 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS), Koloa, HI, USA.10.1109/HICSS.2016.25 ↗
29. Adaptive Multi-agent Relief Assessment and Emergency Response10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.05.010 ↗
30. Exact and heuristic algorithms for solving the generalized vehicle routing problem with flexible fleet size10.1111/itor.12041 ↗
31. A multistart iterated local search for the multitrip cumulative capacitated vehicle routing problem10.1007/s10589-014-9713-5 ↗
32. Mathematical formulations and exact algorithm for the multitrip cumulative capacitated single-vehicle routing problem10.1016/j.ejor.2015.08.067 ↗
33. Intermodal humanitarian logistics model based on maritime transportation in Istanbul10.1007/s11069-016-2318-9 ↗
34. Multi-objective routing and scheduling for relief distribution with split delivery in post-disaster response
35. Jiang, J., Li, Q., Wu, L., and Tu, W. (2017). Multi-Objective Emergency Material Vehicle Dispatching and Routing under Dynamic Constraints in an Earthquake Disaster Environment. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf., 6.10.3390/ijgi6050142 ↗
36. Shortest path problem with arc failure scenarios10.1007/s13676-015-0092-6 ↗
37. Mizuno, H., and Takahashi, S. (2016, January 10–14). Goods Sharing Problems for Emergency Supply. Proceedings of the 2016 5th IIAI International Congress on Advanced Applied Informatics (IIAI-AAI), Kumamoto, Japan.10.1109/IIAI-AAI.2016.241 ↗
38. Development of a Disaster Relief Logistics Model Minimizing the Range of Delivery Time
39. Sepúlveda, J.M., Arriagada, I.A., and Derpich, I. (2018, January 8–12). A decision support system for distribution of supplies in natural disaster situations. Proceedings of the 2018 7th International Conference on Computers Communications and Control (ICCCC), Oradea, Romania.10.1109/ICCCC.2018.8390474 ↗
40. Li, D., and Zhou, H. (2018, January 21–22). Robust Optimization for Vehicle Routing Problem Under Uncertainty in Disaster Response. Proceedings of the 2018 15th International Conference on Service Systems and Service Management (ICSSSM), Hangzhou, China.10.1109/ICSSSM.2018.8465043 ↗
41. Dynamic Routing for Emergency Vehicle by Collecting Real-Time Road Conditions
42. A Three-Stage Model for Location Problem Under Fuzzy Environments
43. An interactive possibilistic programming approach for multiple objective supply chain master planning10.1016/j.fss.2007.08.010 ↗
44. Ji, Y.S., Hu, D.W., and Li, S.H. (2018). The Research of Location-Routing Problem in Emergency Logistics Based on Uncertainties. CICTP 2017: Transportation Reform and Change—Equity, Inclusiveness, Sharing, and Innovation, American Society of Civil Engineers.10.1061/9780784480915.147 ↗
45. Multi-period vehicle routing & replenishment problem of neighbourhood disaster stations for pre-disaster humanitarian relief logistics10.1016/j.ifacol.2019.11.601 ↗
46. A column generation algorithm for vehicle scheduling and routing problems10.1016/j.cie.2019.02.032 ↗
47. Sepulveda, J., and Bull, J. (2019). A Model-Driven Decision Support System for Aid in a Natural Disaster. International Conference on Human Systems Engineering and Design: Future Trends and Applications, Springer.10.1007/978-3-030-27928-8_79 ↗
48. Cai, R., Hu, D., and Jin, Z. (2019, January 6–8). Research on Commodities Distribution and Location Routing Problem Based on Time Deprivation in Emergency Logistics. Proceedings of the CICTP 2019, 19th COTA International Conference of Transportation Professionals, Nanjing, China.10.1061/9780784482292.410 ↗
49. Khare, A., Batta, R., and Kang, J.E. (2020). On the analysis of last-mile relief delivery on a tree network: Application to the 2015 Nepal earthquake. J. Oper. Res. Soc., 1–17.10.1080/01605682.2019.1708824 ↗
50. Khorsi, M., Chaharsooghi, S.K., Bozorgi-Amiri, A., and Kashana, A.H. (2020). A Multi-Objective Multi-Period Model for Humanitarian Relief Logistics with Split Delivery and Multiple Uses of Vehicles. J. Syst. Sci. Syst. Eng., 29.10.1007/s11518-019-5444-6 ↗
51. Models for relief routing: Equity, efficiency and efficacy10.1016/j.tre.2011.05.004 ↗
52. A decision support system for coordinated disaster relief distribution10.1016/j.eswa.2016.03.039 ↗
53. Optimizing the intermodal transportation of emergency medical supplies using balanced fuzzy clustering10.1080/00207543.2016.1174344 ↗
54. A two-stage approach for medical supplies intermodal transportation in large-scale disaster responses10.3390/ijerph111111081 ↗
55. Clarke, J., Gascon, V., and Ferland, J.A. (2017). A Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem With Synchronized Pick-Ups and Drop-Offs: The Case of Medication Delivery and Supervision in the DR Congo. IEEE Trans. Eng. Manag., 1–10.10.1109/TEM.2017.2673541 ↗
56. Yang, X., Hao, W., and Lu, Y. (2018). Inventory slack routing application in emergency logistics and relief distributions. PLoS ONE, 13.10.1371/journal.pone.0198443 ↗
57. Exact and heuristic algorithms for finding envy-free allocations in food rescue pickup and delivery logistics10.1016/j.tre.2018.02.001 ↗
58. A fast heuristic for routing in post-disaster humanitarian relief logistics10.1016/j.trpro.2018.09.033 ↗
59. Yin, R., Liu, Z., and Fu, X. (2019, January 6–8). Vehicle Routing Strategy for Disaster Relief Operation: A Case Study. Proceedings of the CICTP 2019, 19th COTA International Conference of Transportation Professionals, Nanjing, China.10.1061/9780784482292.234 ↗
60. Kashyap, A., Ghose, D., Menon, P.P., Sujit, P., and Das, K. (2019, January 11–14). UAV Aided Dynamic Routing of Resources in a Flood Scenario. Proceedings of the 2019 International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (ICUAS), Atlanta, GA, USA.10.1109/ICUAS.2019.8798357 ↗
61. Fragkos, M.E., Zeimpekis, V., Koutras, V., and Minis, I. (2020). Supply planning for shelters and emergency management crews. Oper. Res., 1–37.10.1007/s12351-020-00557-7 ↗
62. A procedure to support the distribution of drinking water for victims of drought: The case of the Brazilian semi-arid region10.1016/j.trpro.2020.03.106 ↗
63. Planning the use of helicopters in distribution of supplies in response operations of natural disasters10.1016/j.trpro.2020.03.141 ↗
64. Do, C. (2020). Martins, L.; Hirsch, P.; Juan, A.A. Agile optimization of a two-echelon vehicle routing problem with pickup and delivery. Int. Trans. Oper. Res., 28.10.1111/itor.12796 ↗
65. Vehicle routing problem in omni-channel retailing distribution systems10.1016/j.ijpe.2017.11.011 ↗
66. Du, M., and Yi, H. (2013). Multi-objective emergency logistics vehicle routing problem: Road congestion, unilateralism time window. LISS 2012, Springer.10.1007/978-3-642-32054-5_8 ↗
67. Ni, S., Yu, J., and Zhong, Q. (2014, January 24–26). Routing Design for Emergency Supplies Based on Multi-Objective Programming. Proceedings of the 2014 International Conference of Logistics Engineering and Management, Shenyang, China.10.1061/9780784413753.071 ↗
68. Selective vehicle routing problems under uncertainty without recourse10.1016/j.tre.2013.12.004 ↗
69. He, Y., Wen, J., and Huang, M. (2015, January 19–20). Study on Emergency Relief VRP Based on Clustering and PSO. Proceedings of the 2015 11th International Conference on Computational Intelligence and Security (CIS), Shenzhen, China.10.1109/CIS.2015.19 ↗
70. Qin, J., Ye, Y., Cheng, B.R., Zhao, X., and Ni, L. (2017). The Emergency Vehicle Routing Problem with Uncertain Demand under Sustainability Environments. Sustainability, 9.10.3390/su9020288 ↗
71. Emergency materials transportation model in disasters based on dynamic programming and ant colony optimization10.1108/K-02-2016-0028 ↗
72. Solving a bi-objective mathematical programming model for bloodmobiles location routing problem
73. Raziei, Z., Tavakkoli-Moghaddam, R., Rezaei-Malek, M., Bozorgi-Amiri, A., and Jolai, F. (2018). Postdisaster relief distribution network design under disruption risk: A tour covering location-routing approach. Integrating Disaster Science and Management, Elsevier.10.1016/B978-0-12-812056-9.00023-3 ↗
74. Escribano Macias, J.J., Angeloudis, P., and Ochieng, W. (2018, January 25–29). Integrated Trajectory-Location-Routing for Rapid Humanitarian Deliveries using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Proceedings of the 2018 Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations Conference, Atlanta, GA, USA.10.2514/6.2018-3045 ↗
75. Multi-criteria optimization for last mile distribution of disaster relief aid: Test cases and applications10.1016/j.ejor.2018.02.043 ↗
76. Multi-objective, multi-period location-routing model to distribute relief after earthquake by considering emergency roadway repair10.1007/s00521-016-2696-7 ↗
77. Du, R., and Zhou, H. (2018, January 22–23). Location-Routing Problem under Emergency with Simultaneous Relief Delivery and Victim Evacuation. Proceedings of the 2018 International Conference on Computer Modeling, Simulation and Algorithm (CMSA 2018), Beijing, China.10.2991/cmsa-18.2018.54 ↗
78. A novel multi-objective programming model of relief distribution for sustainable disaster supply chain in large-scale natural disasters10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.11.037 ↗
79. Single-level LRP Problem of Emergency Logistics System Considering Demand Priority10.1088/1755-1315/189/6/062020 ↗
80. An integrated location-inventory-routing humanitarian supply chain network with pre-and post-disaster management considerations10.1016/j.seps.2017.12.004 ↗
81. Two-stage multi-objective location-routing-inventory model for humanitarian logistics network design under uncertainty10.1016/j.ijdrr.2017.10.015 ↗
82. Wang, S., Liu, F., Lian, L., Hong, Y., and Chen, H. (2018). Integrated post-disaster medical assistance team scheduling and relief supply distribution. Int. J. Logist. Manag., 29.10.1108/IJLM-06-2017-0152 ↗
83. Disaster relief routing under uncertainty: A robust optimization approach10.1080/24725854.2018.1450540 ↗
84. Dynamic vehicle routing problem with cooperative strategy in disaster relief10.1504/IJSTL.2019.103868 ↗
85. An integrated routing and scheduling model for evacuation and commodity distribution in large-scale disaster relief operations: A case study10.1007/s10479-018-2807-1 ↗
86. Yuan, Y., Zhou, X., and Yang, M. (2019, January 1–3). Emergency logistics vehicle routing optimization based on insufficient supply. Proceedings of the 2019 International Conference on Building Energy Conservation, Thermal Safety and Environmental Pollution Control (ICBTE 2019), Anhui, China.10.1051/e3sconf/201913604068 ↗
87. Using Monarch Butterfly Optimization to Solve the Emergency Vehicle Routing Problem with Relief Materials in Sudden Disasters10.1515/geo-2019-0031 ↗
88. Shen, L., Tao, F., Shi, Y., and Qin, R. (2019). Optimization of location-routing problem in emergency logistics considering carbon emissions. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 16.10.3390/ijerph16162982 ↗
89. De León, A.D., Lalla-Ruiz, E., Melián-Batista, B., and Moreno-Vega, J.M. (2019). A Simulated Annealing-Based Approach for Aid Distribution in Post-disaster Scenarios. International Conference on Computer Aided Systems Theory, Springer.
90. Liu, C., Kou, G., Peng, Y., and Alsaadi, F.E. (2019). Location-routing problem for relief distribution in the early post-earthquake stage from the perspective of fairness. Sustainability, 11.10.3390/su11123420 ↗
91. Inventory routing and dynamic redistribution of relief goods in post-disaster operations10.1016/j.cie.2019.106219 ↗
92. A multi-period humanitarian logistics model considering limited resources and network availability10.1016/j.trpro.2020.03.183 ↗
93. A Multi-period Relief Distribution Model considering Limited Resources and Decreasing Resilience of Affected Population
94. Ferrer, J.M., Ortuño, M.T., and Tirado, G. (2020). A New Ant Colony-Based Methodology for Disaster Relief. Mathematics, 8.10.3390/math8040518 ↗
95. Metaheuristic algorithm for solving the multi-objective vehicle routing problem with time window and drones10.1177/1729881420920031 ↗
96. A Hybrid Optimization Model: An Approach for the Humanitarian Aid Distribution Problem
97. Al Theeb, N., and Murray, C. (2016). Vehicle routing and resource distribution in postdisaster humanitarian relief operations. Int. Trans. Oper. Res., 24.10.1111/itor.12308 ↗
98. A novel hybrid ant colony optimization algorithm for emergency transportation problems during post-disaster scenarios10.1109/TSMC.2016.2606440 ↗
99. An emergency logistics distribution routing model for unexpected events10.1007/s10479-016-2300-7 ↗
100. Dispatching medical supplies in emergency events via uncertain programming10.1007/s10845-014-1008-2 ↗