In April 2007 new legal rules concerning the driving and working hours of truck drivers have become valid in all member countries of the European Union. In the study of Christoph Manuel Meyer the dispatchers' problem of combined vehicle routing and break scheduling is modelled and solved using an efficient heuristic solution algorithm. Special attention is given to the distributed decision competences between dispatchers and drivers, which are usually encountered in practice. Finally, strategies for including the legal rules in the dispatching process are suggested, which can easily be implemented by freight forwarding companies in practice.

Autorentext
Dr. Christoph Manuel Meyer wrote his dissertation under Prof. Dr.-Ing. Herbert Kopfer's supervision at the Chair of Logistics at the University of Bremen.

Zusammenfassung
In this study the dispatchers' problem of combined vehicle routing and break scheduling is modelled and solved using an efficient heuristic solution algorithm. Strategies for including the legal rules in the dispatching process are suggested.

Inhalt
European Union Legislation on Driving and Working Hours; The Dispatching Process; Model and Restricted Dynamic Programming Heuristic for the VRPTW-EU; Distributed Decision Making in Combined Vehicle Routing and Break Scheduling