  Our work departs from the original definition of the Pickup and Delivery
Problem (PDP) and extends it by considering an interchange point (crossdock)
where vehicles can exchange their goods with other vehicles in order to shorten
their delivery routes and reduce their running times. Multiple operational
constraints, such as time windows, vehicle capacities, and the synchronization
of vehicles at the crossdock, are considered. In addition, the specific
requirements of perishable goods, which should not be carried on long trips,
are taken into account. Given this consideration, this study introduces the
Pickup and Delivery Problem with Crossdock for Perishable Goods (PDPCDPG) and
models it as a nonlinear programming problem. PDPCDPG is then reformulated to a
MILP with the use of linearizations and its search space is tightened with the
addition of valid inequalities that are employed when solving the problem to
global optimality with Branch-and-Cut. Various computational experiments are
conducted on benchmark instances found in the literature to assess the
performance of our model. The results demonstrate the solution stability of the
proposed approach. The proposed model aims to provide a practical and effective
approach for transportation and logistics companies dealing with time-sensitive
deliveries.
