A sequential priority-based heuristic for scheduling material handling in a satellite cross-dock

•We present the problem of scheduling material handling in satellite cross-docking terminals.•We represent the mathematical representation of the problem.•A fast heuristic algorithm is presented which is applicable to practical problems.•The results depict the efficiency of the proposed approach.

In a less-than-truckload logistic network, the satellite cross-dock is in charge of local deliveries. These terminals operate in two separate shifts: consolidating pickup freight for overnight shipments and processing received products for early morning deliveries. Satellite cross-docks are flexible when scheduling trucks and where the priority is to minimize handling cost. In this paper, we formalize cross-docking process by presenting a mathematical model. We develop a sequential priority-based heuristic algorithm to deal with practical problems. Numerical results show the stability of the heuristic method for fairly large size problems.