A Polynomial-Time Exact Algorithm for
k
-Depot Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem on a Tree
This paper proposes a polynomial-time exact algorithm for the k -depot capacitated vehicle routing problem on a tree for fixed k ( k -depot CVRPT for short), which involves dispatching a fixed number of k capacitated vehicles in depots on a tree-shaped graph to serve customers with the objective of minimizing total distance traveled. The polynomial-time exact algorithm improves the 2-approximation algorithm when k is a constant.