Hybrid Meta-Heuristic Algorithm for a Pickup and Delivery Problem of Ship Outfitting Pallets Distribution Considering Carbon Emissions

Carbon emissions from ship outfitting pallet distribution account for a significant proportion of shipbuilding logistics. However, the complexity of the problem and the lack of carbon emission considerations make it difficult to achieve efficient and low-carbon distribution scheduling. To improve distribution efficiency while reducing carbon emissions, this paper formulates it as a heterogeneous fleet green multi-pickup and delivery problem with time windows. To effectively solve the problem, we develop a powerful hybrid meta-heuristic and propose a request insertion pruning strategy to accelerate the procedure. Computational results on multiple instances demonstrate the significant advantages of the proposed hybrid approach. The differences in cost components and transportation strategies between the economic and emission cost objective models are analyzed to provide meaningful managerial insights. This paper also quantifies the trade-offs between two costs and the benefits of a heterogeneous fleet over a homogeneous one. The method proposed can effectively reduce carbon emissions while improving distribution efficiency to help improve the sustainability of shipbuilding.