Planning methods and decision support systems in vehicle routing problems for timber transportation: a review

In the forest industry, transportation accounts for a significant part of the operational costs. Reducing transportation costs through advanced planning and improved efficiency has motivated considerable research efforts. A substantial part of the research has been devoted to planning methodology and decision support systems development to solve large complex vehicle routing problems in forest timber or roundwood transportation. This paper reviews the scientific contributions to timber transportation vehicle routing planning methodologies and decision support systems used in case studies found in the literature. The challenges of their deployment are discussed and future research opportunities are presented. Vehicle routing problems in timber transportation differ from general vehicle routing problems in many aspects. This paper also describes the industrial context, in which various timber transportation vehicle routing problems (TTVRPs) are intrinsic. Several attributes are identified that characterize the TTVRPs, for which various planning and solution methodologies have been implemented.