Three Dimensional Bin Packing Problem applied to air cargo

Deciding whether a set of three dimensional boxes can be packed into a container is a NP-hard problem. Mathematical models have been developed, however, only few studies take into account constraints encountered in real-world applications such as the stability or the fragility of the cargo. Moreover, despite the importance of this issue in air transport, the literature is almost silent on constraints related to the distribution of the weight inside a container. This paper is concerned with the formulation of the three dimensional palletization which includes the main constraints met in the air cargo industry.