A multi-population multi-objective maritime inventory routing optimization algorithm with three-level dynamic encoding

Abstract This paper proposes a multi-population-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MP-MOEA) for solving complex maritime inventory routing problems, aiming to simultaneously minimize transportation costs and greenhouse gas emissions. To maintain population diversity, this paper employs a...

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Main Authors: Tianyu Liu, Jiaping Liu, He Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-04-01
Series:Scientific Reports
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Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86091-y
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author Tianyu Liu
Jiaping Liu
He Xu
author_facet Tianyu Liu
Jiaping Liu
He Xu
author_sort Tianyu Liu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract This paper proposes a multi-population-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MP-MOEA) for solving complex maritime inventory routing problems, aiming to simultaneously minimize transportation costs and greenhouse gas emissions. To maintain population diversity, this paper employs a multi-population-based initialization operator to generate multiple populations containing solutions with varying numbers of vessels. Additionally, the proposed initialization operator utilizes a dynamic three-level encoding strategy, which significantly reduces the dimensionality of decision variables and lowers the complexity of encoding and decoding compared to traditional fixed-length encoding. To address the complex constraints of the studied maritime inventory routing problem, an individual modification operator is designed to improve solution feasibility. Furthermore, to accelerate population convergence and expand the search range, a hybrid crossover operator and a contribution-based mutation operator are proposed to balance the convergence and diversity in MP-MOEA. In this paper, the proposed MP-MOEA is compared with five state-of-the-art multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, including NSGAII, BiCo, MSCEA, TSTI, and AGEMOEAII, on maritime inventory routing problems of three different scales. The experimental results indicate that the solutions provided by the MP-MOEA outperform those of the other compared algorithms in addressing different problem instances.
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spelling doaj-art-758a2e7eb0b34c52b20a99f1ac6fdadd2025-08-20T03:18:38ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-04-0115112710.1038/s41598-025-86091-yA multi-population multi-objective maritime inventory routing optimization algorithm with three-level dynamic encodingTianyu Liu0Jiaping Liu1He Xu2School of Information Engineering, Shanghai Maritime UniversitySchool of Information Engineering, Shanghai Maritime UniversitySchool of Information Science and Electronic Engineering, Zhejiang UniversityAbstract This paper proposes a multi-population-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MP-MOEA) for solving complex maritime inventory routing problems, aiming to simultaneously minimize transportation costs and greenhouse gas emissions. To maintain population diversity, this paper employs a multi-population-based initialization operator to generate multiple populations containing solutions with varying numbers of vessels. Additionally, the proposed initialization operator utilizes a dynamic three-level encoding strategy, which significantly reduces the dimensionality of decision variables and lowers the complexity of encoding and decoding compared to traditional fixed-length encoding. To address the complex constraints of the studied maritime inventory routing problem, an individual modification operator is designed to improve solution feasibility. Furthermore, to accelerate population convergence and expand the search range, a hybrid crossover operator and a contribution-based mutation operator are proposed to balance the convergence and diversity in MP-MOEA. In this paper, the proposed MP-MOEA is compared with five state-of-the-art multi-objective evolutionary algorithms, including NSGAII, BiCo, MSCEA, TSTI, and AGEMOEAII, on maritime inventory routing problems of three different scales. The experimental results indicate that the solutions provided by the MP-MOEA outperform those of the other compared algorithms in addressing different problem instances.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86091-yMaritime inventory routing problemMulti-objective optimizationEvolutionary algorithmEncoding strategyIndividual modification
spellingShingle Tianyu Liu
Jiaping Liu
He Xu
A multi-population multi-objective maritime inventory routing optimization algorithm with three-level dynamic encoding
Scientific Reports
Maritime inventory routing problem
Multi-objective optimization
Evolutionary algorithm
Encoding strategy
Individual modification
title A multi-population multi-objective maritime inventory routing optimization algorithm with three-level dynamic encoding
title_full A multi-population multi-objective maritime inventory routing optimization algorithm with three-level dynamic encoding
title_fullStr A multi-population multi-objective maritime inventory routing optimization algorithm with three-level dynamic encoding
title_full_unstemmed A multi-population multi-objective maritime inventory routing optimization algorithm with three-level dynamic encoding
title_short A multi-population multi-objective maritime inventory routing optimization algorithm with three-level dynamic encoding
title_sort multi population multi objective maritime inventory routing optimization algorithm with three level dynamic encoding
topic Maritime inventory routing problem
Multi-objective optimization
Evolutionary algorithm
Encoding strategy
Individual modification
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-86091-y
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