Optimization of transport networks: with special reference to fluctuating demand for fisheries

Abstract

The fish market in Sri Lanka is a perfectly competitive market in terms of price. The supply of fishery items can be changed due to various factors such as weather patterns, fishery harvest taken by fishing boats, etc. According to the availability of harvest the supply need to be adjusted for different selling points for optimum sales. This research considered a fisheries company which requires an established distribution network within Colombo, Sri Lanka. Integer programming is used to adjust the supply for the selling points. After the allocation of stocks for locations most profitable locations are selected for the selling operation. This ”specific vehicle routing problem” was solved using the Google Colabs platform with the combination of using Python language and some set of traditional search algorithms. The lowest number of kilometers for the operation given by the results were taken for the operation since the number of kilometers is an important factor in reducing the cost of the total operation. The Tabu search method resulted in the minimum operational kilometers which is 146.573 km using five vehicles at a total cost of at a rate of 150 LKR per kilometer.