A cluster insertion heuristic for single and multiple depot vehicle routing problems with backhauling

We investigate an extension to the classical insertion-based heuristic for the vehicle routing problem with backhauling (VRPB). It is based on the idea of inserting more than one backhaul at a time. This method is tested on data sets with single and multiple depots with encouraging results at no additional computational burden. This approach can also be useful in generating good starting solutions for the more computer-intensive meta-heuristics.