A Multivehicle Tanker Scheduling Problem

The Dantzig and Fulkerson Tanker Scheduling Problem is concerned with the determination of the minimum size and optimal routing of a fleet of homogeneous tankers needed to meet a prescribed schedule of deliveries. This problem has been formulated as a network flow problem. Later formulations consider an existing nonhomogeneous tanker fleet and relax the fixed shipping schedule. These problems are treated as multicommodity minimal cost flow problems. This paper further extends the problem to consider differing carrying capabilities of the vehicles and formulates a mixed integer linear program that permits partially loaded tankers. A branch-and-bound enumerative scheme in conjunction with a decomposed linear program with network sub-problems is presented.