A dynamic vehicle routing problem for medical supplies in large-scale emergencies

In this paper, we propose a mathematical model for a dynamic vehicle routing problem (VRP) with stochastic demands and real-time vehicle control for large-scale emergencies. The problem involves multiple vehicles with various capacities and instantaneous variations of service requests in demand nodes. Both dispatched (serving in a route) and undispatched (in depot) vehicles are considered in the problem. And the adjustments of planned routes arising from demand nodes and service requests are also considered. Then, we propose a hybrid solution algorithm based on C-W saving and tabu search algorithms. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm.