Hub Terminal Assignment Problem of Incoming and Outgoing Courier Vehicles

Due to the increasing demand for parcel delivery, the amount of parcel delivery that couriers have to handle exceeds the current terminal capacity. To solve this problem, a new terminal will be built in addition to the existing terminal, or the terminal will be jointly used through alliances with competing courier companies. In this case, a hub terminal that can be used by courier companies is physically composed of several terminals. At this time, when a vehicle departing from a sub terminal arrives at the hub terminal, the decision to which terminal in the hub to allocate becomes a very important issue for parcel delivery companies for efficient terminal operation. In a situation where the capacity that can be handled per day in the hub terminal is limited, minimizing the travel distance of vehicles between terminals in the hub plays a decisive role in increasing the efficiency of hub terminal operation. This study presented a mathematical model for determining which terminal in the hub should be allocated to vehicles arriving at the hub from each sub terminal, and from which terminal the vehicle going to the destination sub terminal should be released. A solution method using Excel is presented and in order to find out the possibility of practical application, 12 example problems are solved, and the results are analyzed and presented.