Comparing Two Heuristic Local Search Algorithms for a Complex Routing Problem

Vehicle routing problems (VRP) have been widely studied in literature. Heuristics as well as exact algorithms have been applied to solve this kind of problems. In this study we approximately solve the VRP with simultaneous pickup and delivery and time windows by means of two well-known heuristics namely Tabu Search and Simulated Annealing. We compare the obtained results and then propose a restoration technique that allows both Tabu Search and Simulated Annealing to better explore the solution space. Results show that the proposed restoration technique allows both heuristic algorithms to obtain better results.