The design of distribution systems raises hard combinatorial optimization problems. For instance, facility location problems must be solved at the strategic decision level to place factories and warehouses, while vehicle routes must be built at the tactical or operational levels to supply...

In the truck and trailer routing problems (TTRPs) a fleet of trucks and trailers serves a set of customers. Some customers with accessibility constraints must be served just by truck, while others can be served either by truck or by a complete vehicle (a truck pulling a trailer). We propose a...