ALNS for Tugboat Scheduling in Inland Waterway

Abstract: This paper focuses on the barges shipping problem, also known as the tugboats scheduling problem, within the context of a scenario where a single tugboat has the capacity to tow multiple barges and conduct multiple trips in a drop-and-pull mode during a daily work shift. The problem is mathematically formalized as mixed-integer programming models. To tackle real-world-sized problem instances, an adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) algorithm integrated with a decoding mathematical model is proposed. When applied to large-scale instances, the ALNS algorithm showcases performance superiority over the strengthened mathematical model.