Continuous time scheduling for sugarcane harvest logistics in Louisiana

Despite a growing global appetite for sugar as both a foodstuff and a fuel source, there exists limited literature that explores sugarcane operations. In this paper, we look at the scheduling harvest and logistics operations in the state of Louisiana in the United States. These operations account for significant portions of the total sugarcane production costs. We develop an integer programming model for coordinating harvest and transport of sugarcane. The model seeks to reduce vehicle waiting time at the mill by maximising the minimum gap between two successive arrivals at the mill. To help improve tractability, we introduce valid inequalities and optimality cuts. We also demonstrate how to adapt solutions from a previous discrete-time model. Our results show that arrivals can easily be coordinated to reduce truck waiting time at the mill.