Dealing with load bearing strength considerations in container loading problems

A new heuristic approach is put forward for tackling container loading problems where the cargo involved has varying degrees of load bearing strength. In such cases the placement rules must ensure that the weight resting on an item remains below the maximum it can withstand without suffering crushing damage. The construction heuristic proposed is embedded in a search algorithm which seeks to optimise the parameter settings of the procedure. Limiting the time required to produce a good solution and the amount of technical expertise needed by the user are key considerations. The approach is evaluated in a series of tests against benchmarks from the literature. The results demonstrate that it outperforms other approaches which have been suggested for this type of problem and that it also performs well on problems where load bearing strength is not an issue. Potentially useful extensions of the work are discussed.