ABSTRACT
Short-haul transportation is a main component of distribution and logistics. This chapter discusses two important problems: the travelling salesman problem and the vehicle routing problem, both specifically aimed at short-haul freight transportation activities. The main goal of freight transportation is to serve, which might refer to delivery or collection, one or multiple types of goods to or from a given set of origin nodes, each of which is called a depot. Service is provided to a set of destinations, each of which is called a demand point or a customer, using one or many vehicles. Freight distribution is assumed to be performed on a network, including nodes that correspond to origins and destinations. An origin node is called a depot, where goods to be distributed are assumed to be available, where vehicles are loaded or unloaded and where vehicles start their routes from and return to.
