In the article authored by Alexander Rave and Pirmin Fontaine, we analyze the question of how to position micro hubs in urban areas when cargo bikes are used for last-mile delivery. The Location Routing Problem with time windows and load-dependent travel times is modeled as a mixed-integer linear program. To solve larger instances, we developed an Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (ALNS), enabling us to analyze the impact of load-dependent travel times on the placement of micro hubs. In a numerical study, our results show that hubs in higher-elevation areas are preferentially used, and customers are primarily served from hubs at similar elevations. Without considering load-dependent travel times, this outcome would not be achievable, leading instead to a cost increase of up to 2.7%.
The article is now available online here