Title: Optimisation model for hazardous material transport routing in Thailand

Authors: R. Pradhananga, S. Hanaoka, W. Sattayaprasert

Addresses: Department of Urban Management, Kyoto University, C-1 Kyotodaigaku Katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan. ' Department of International Development Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-14-12, O-okayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo, 152-8550, Japan. ' Department of Civil Engineering, Mahanakorn University of Technology, 51 Chuemsamphan Road Nongchok, Bangkok 10530, Thailand

Abstract: This paper introduces an optimisation model for transportation of the hazardous material (Hazmat). The focus is on application to developing countries like Thailand. The objective of the proposed Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Window (VRPTW) model for Hazmat routing is to minimise the economic and risk costs using available data and information for the case study. Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to solve the model. Results in application to the case study showed its effective performance both in economic as well as safety aspects providing a useful approach for number of companies involved in Hazmat transport activities in developing countries.

Keywords: hazardous materials; Hazmat transport; logistics; optimisation; vehicle routing problem; developing countries; Thailand; generic algorithms; modelling; economic costs; risk costs; safety.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2011.040058

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2011 Vol.9 No.1, pp.22 - 42

Published online: 06 May 2015 *

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