Vehicle routing problem of contactless joint distribution service during COVID-19 pandemic

In order to prevent the further spread of the COVID-19 virus, enclosed management of gated communities is necessary. The implementation of contactless food distribution for closed gated communities is an urgent issue. This paper proposes a contactless joint distribution service to avoid contact between couriers. Then a multi-vehicle multi-trip routing problem for contactless joint distribution service is proposed, and a mathematical programming model for this problem is established. The goal of the model is to increase residents' satisfaction with food distribution services. To solve this model, a PEABCTS algorithm is developed, which is the enhanced artificial bee colony algorithm embedded with a tabu search operator, using a progressive method to form a solution of multi-vehicle distribution routings. Finally, a variety of numerical simulations were carried out for statistical research. Compared with the two distribution services of supportive supply and on-demand supply, the proposed contactless joint distribution service can not only improve residents' satisfaction with the distribution service but also reduce the contact frequency between couriers. In addition, compared with various algorithms, it is found that the PEABCTS algorithm has better performance.