A hybrid ACO algorithm for the full truckload transportation problem

In this paper we propose a hybrid ACO approach to solve a full truckload transportation problem. Hybridization is achieved through the use of a problem specific heuristic. This heuristic is utilized both, to initialize the pheromone information and to construct solutions in the ACO pro-cedure. The main idea is to use information about the required fleetsize, by initializing the system with a number of vehicles rather than opening vehicles one at a time as needed. Our results show the advantages of this new approach over more traditional, i.e. sequential, approaches.