To mitigate climate change due to international shipping, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) requires shipowners and ship technical managers to improve the energy efficiency of ships’ operations. This paper studies how voyage planning and execution decisions affect energy efficiency and distinguishes between the commercial and nautical components of energy efficiency. Commercial decisions for voyage planning depend on dynamic market conditions and matter more for energy efficiency than nautical decisions do for voyage execution. The paper identifies the people involved in decision-making processes and advances the energy-efficiency literature by revealing the highly networked nature of agency for energy efficiency. The IMO’s current energy efficiency regulations fail to distinguish between the commercial and nautical aspects of energy efficiency, which limits the ability to mitigate climate change through regulatory measures. Policymakers should expand their regulatory focus beyond shipowners and technical managers to cargo owners to improve energy efficiency and reduce maritime transport emissions.
Several replacement fuel to today’s fossil based ship propulsion fuels have been addressed in MarEfuel. Key ones are; pyrolysis oil (blend in fuel), methanol and ammonia. These were singled out among many possible fuels from a preliminary analysis that indicated that they could play a key role in fulfilling the emission targets set politically and by the sector in the most cost effective manner. In the following they shall be treated in turn in some detail. Costs of several “blue” fuels have also been assessed. The projected costs are used in other parts of the MarEfuel project (e.g. for assessing the total cost of ownership).
To achieve IMO’s goal of a 50% reduction of GHG emission by 2050 (compared to the 2008 levels), shipping must not only work towards an optimization of each ship and its components but aim for an optimization of the complete marine transport system, including fleet planning, harbour logistics, route planning, speed profiles, weather routing and ship design. ShipCLEAN, a newly developed model, introduces a coupling of a marine transport economics model to a sophisticated ship energy systems model – it provides a leap towards a holistic optimization of marine transport systems. This paper presents how the model is applied to propose a reduction in fuel consumption and environmental impact by speed reduction of a container ship on a Pacific Ocean trade and the implementation of wind assisted propulsion on a MR Tanker on a North Atlantic trade. The main conclusions show that an increase of the fuel price, for example by applying a bunker levy, will lead to considerable, economically motivated speed reductions in liner traffic. The case study sowed possible yearly fuel savings of almost 21 300 t if the fuel price would be increased from 300 to 1000 USD/t. Accordingly, higher fuel prices can motivate the installation of wind assisted propulsion, which potentially saves up to 500 t of fuel per year for the investigated MR Tanker on a transatlantic route.
Waiting times for trucks, trains, airplanes and ships in service represent apparent transport system inefficiencies, and measures to reduce these may have the potential to abate transport GHG emissions. In international shipping, transportation researchers have pointed out that reduced waiting time in association with port calls holds such promise. We explore the potential for GHG abatement through port call optimization, focusing on crews and their employers - the shipping companies. Adding new empirical evidence to the transportation literature, we confirm the existence of idle time during port calls, and go beyond this in describing the causes for it. We show how several port stakeholders, including government officials, limit the crews’ and shipping companies’ room for maneuver in relation to port calls. We also show why the process of reducing waiting time in shipping is more complex than that for onshore transport modes, where real-time traffic information guides drivers’ route choices, and reduces congestion and waiting time. Our findings have implications for both policy makers and transportation research.
Maritime transport carries around 80% of the world’s trade. It is key to the economic development of many countries, it is a source of income in many countries, and it is considered as a safe and environment friendly mode of transport. Given its undisputed importance, a question is what does the future hold for maritime transport. This chapter is an attempt to answer this question by mainly addressing the drive to decarbonize shipping, along with related challenges as regards alternative low carbon or zero carbon marine fuels. The important role of maritime policy making as a main driver for change is also discussed. Specifically, if maritime transport is to drastically change so as to meet carbon emissions reduction targets, the chapter argues, among other things, that a substantial bunker levy would be the best (or maybe the only) way to induce technological changes in the long run and logistical measures (such as slow steaming) in the short run. In the
long run this would lead to changes in the global fleet towards vessels and technologies that are more energy efficient, more economically viable and less dependent on fossil fuels than those today. In that sense, it would have the potential to drastically alter the face of maritime transport in the future. However, as things stand, and mainly for political reasons, the chapter also argues that the adoption of such a measure is considered as rather unlikely.
Aiming at reducing CO2 emissions from shipping at the EU level, a system for monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) of CO2 emissions of ships was introduced in 2015 with the so-called ‘MRV Regulation’. Its stated objective was to produce accurate information on the CO2 emissions of large ships using EU ports and to incentivize energy efficiency improvements by making this information publicly available. On 1 July 2019, the European Commission published the relevant data for 10,880 ships that called at EU ports within 2018. This milestone marked the completion of the first annual cycle of the regulation’s implementation, enabling an early assessment of its effectiveness. To investigate the value of the published data, information was collected on all voyages performed within 2018 by a fleet of 1041 dry bulk carriers operated by a leading Danish shipping company. The MRV indicators were then recalculated on a global basis. The results indicate that the geographic coverage restrictions of the MRV Regulation introduce a significant bias, thus prohibiting their intended use. Nevertheless, the MRV Regulation has played a role in prompting the IMO to adopt its Data Collection System that monitors ship carbon emissions albeit on a global basis.
The abatement of greenhouse gas emissions represents a major global challenge and an important topic for transportation research. Several studies have argued that energy efficiency measures for virtual arrival and associated reduced anchorage time can significantly reduce emissions from ships by allowing for speed reduction on passage. However, virtual arrival is uncommon in shipping. In this paper, we examine the causes for waiting time for ships at anchor and the limited uptake of virtual arrival. We show the difficulties associated with the implementation of virtual arrival and explain why shipping is unlikely to achieve the related abatement potential as assumed by previous studies. Combining onboard observations with seafarers and interviews with both sea-staff and shore-based operational personnel we show how charterers’ commercial priorities outweigh the fuel saving benefits associated with virtual arrival. Moreover, we demonstrate how virtual arrival systems have unintended, negative consequences for seafarers in the form of fatigue. Our findings have implications for the IMO’s greenhouse gas abatement goals.
The purpose of this chapter is to present some basics as regards the energy efficiency of ships, including related regulatory activity at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and elsewhere. To that effect, the Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) is first presented, followed by a discussion of Market Based Measures (MBMs) and the recent Initial IMO Strategy to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from ships. The discussion includes commentary on possible pitfalls in the policy approach being followed.
The increasing focus on energy efficient operation of vessels can be seen in both legislation and research. This paper focuses attention on the human factor influencing energy efficiency and explores the conditions for improving energy efficiency in working vessels taking situational awareness (SA) theory into consideration.
The study builds on two cases: an offshore supply vessel for the oil & gas industry and an installation vessel for wind turbines. The study used qualitative methods based on 49 interviews with seafarers and onshore employees from the vessels and shipping companies.
The study has identified that the energy efficiency of a ship is mainly influenced by legislation and the praxis formed on board. The results showed that the theory on SA is very a useful tool in explaining the factors affecting the energy efficiency of a vessel and the praxis.
The study has shown that obtaining a more energy efficient operation is complex and depends not only on the officer on board the ship. The improvement of energy efficiency is possible, but there is a need to understand the complexity of the issue and to involve both the crew and the entire system around the ship, and to obtain a shared perspective of energy efficient operation. Furthermore, in order to improve energy efficiency in shipping companies, there is a need to support the seafarers in gaining more skills for operating the ship more energy efficiently; to do this the right way there is a need to create an understanding of the system by the authorities, ship owners and charterers.
Over the recent decades, there has been an increasing focus on energy-efficient operation of vessels. It has become part of the political agenda, where regulation is the main driver, but the maritime industry itself has also been driven towards more energy-efficient operation of the vessels, due to increasing fuel costs. Improving the energy efficiency on board vessels is not only a technical issue - factors such as awareness of the problem, knowledge skills and motivation are also important parameters that must be considered.
The paper shows how training in energy-efficient operation and awareness can affect the energy consumption of vessels. The study is based on navigational, full-mission simulator tests conducted at the International Maritime Academy SIMAC. A full-mission simulator is an image of the world allowing the students to obtain skills through learning-by-doing in a safe environment. Human factors and technical issues were included and the test sessions consisted of a combination of practical simulator exercises and reflection workshops.
The result of the simulator tests showed that a combination of installing technical equipment and raising awareness - making room for reflections-on and in-action - has a positive effect on energy consumption. The participants, on average, saved approximately 10% in fuel.