Maersk Line er verdens førende containerrederi og blandt de mest betydningsfulde virksomheder i Danmark. Den globale førerposition blev opnået på relativt kort tid og var et resultat af rederiets beslutning i 1973 om at gå helhjertet ind i containerskibsfarten. Beslutningen blev startskuddet til Maersk Lines dybe internationalisering, hvor rederiet ændrede sig fra at være en overvejende danske virksomhed, der betjente internationale markeder, til at være en genuin transnational virksomhed. Med fokus på opbygningen af Maersk Lines globale organisation og særligt etableringen af egne kontorer i udlandet indkredses rederiets tilpasning og udvikling i perioden fra 1973-1999.
As Arctic sea ice recedes due to global warming, ship traffic is increasing, posing global climate risks, particularly from black carbon emissions. Emitted by ships burning heavy fuel oil, black carbon accelerates ice melt and contributes to climate change. Despite this urgency regulatory progress on the topic has been slow. The International Maritime Organization has debated Arctic black carbon emissions for over a decade with little advancement. Notably, regulatory efforts on the topic so far have been driven mainly by non-state actors rather than states. However, their regulatory influence is hindered by a critical barrier: a lack of transparency. This article analyses the crucial role of transparency in international law-making, specifically for non-state actors, using Arctic black carbon regulation as a case study. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, the article identifies transparency challenges and suggests recommendations to overcome them, thereby strengthening the role of non-state actors within the regulation.
The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) entails investments to improve overland (rail) transport between Europe and China. This paper introduces a microscopic Multi-Commodity Flow Service Selection Problem for freight transport under the BRI and provides a decision tool for shippers to make door-to-door service plans. The minimizing objective function considers transportation costs, in-transit inventory costs, and carbon emissions. A series of sampled data of each provincial region of China are collected from Chinese multimodal transport operators. Results show that inland regions are strongly attracted to the rail mode for shipments to Europe. However, the “last mile” (including “first mile”) transport from the shipper to the long-haul transport terminal strongly influences this choice, and carbon emissions are strongly influenced by the available last mile transport links. Under the dual impact of in-transit inventory and carbon emission costs, regions that prefer rail to maritime are much further east than suggested by previous literature.
Tropical marine ecosystems provide a wide range of provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services to millions of people. They also largely contribute to blue carbon sequestration. Mangroves, seaweeds, and seagrass habitats are important because they store large amounts of organic carbon while fish play a fundamental role in the carbon transport to deep waters. Protecting and restoring tropical marine ecosystems is of great value to society because their decline impairs the vital services they provide, such as coastal protection and seafood supplies. In this marine policy paper, we present options for enhancing blue carbon sequestration in tropical coastal areas. In addition, we outline the economic value of four components of coastal ecosystems (mangroves, seagrass beds, seaweed forests and fish) and discuss the economic levers society can apply to ensure the end of the current gross mismanagement of tropical blue carbon ecosystems. Market-based solutions, such as carbon taxes or fines for violations that use the ‘polluter pays' principle, can be very effective in achieving national or international climate agreements. Private investment can also finance the preservation of blue carbon ecosystems. One widely known financing method for blue carbon conservation, particularly of mangroves, is the use of municipal bonds, which can be issued like traditional bonds to finance the day-to-day obligations of cities, states and counties. Non-philanthropic investments can also be used in order to protect these ecosystems, such as debt-for-nature swaps and the improved application of regulatory frameworks. Overall, the protection of tropical marine ecosystems is an ecological imperative and should also be seen as an opportunity for new revenue streams and debt reduction for countries worldwide.
Transfer functions are often used together with a wave spectrum for analysis of wave–ship interactions, where one application addresses the prediction of wave-induced motions or other types of global responses. This paper presents a simple and practical method which can be used to tune the transfer function of such responses to facilitate improved prediction capability. The input to the method consists of a measured response, i.e. time series sequences from a given sensor, the 2D wave spectrum characterising the seaway in which the measurements are taken, and an initial estimate of the transfer function for the response in study. The paper presents results obtained using data from an in-service container ship. The 2D wave spectra are taken from the ERA5 database, while the transfer function is computed by a simple closed-form expression. The paper shows that the application of the tuned transfer function leads to predictions which are significantly improved compared to using the transfer function without tuning.
As maritime technology advances, multi-energy ship microgrids (MESMs) are widely used in large cruise tourism. In this context, studying cost-effective and highly reliable energy system planning methods for MESMs in their entire lifespan becomes paramount. Therefore, this paper proposes a joint planning method for a MESM during its lifetime. Firstly, a long timescale coordinated planning and operation scheme is formulated with the aim of maximizing the Net Present Value (NPV) value, thereby reducing both project investment and energy supply cost. In addition, this paper introduces novel operation models that incorporate customer thermal comfort levels, considering thermal inertia, and ship navigation, accounting for the effects of waves and wind. These models enhance the flexibility and practicality of the planning process. Finally, to ensure the safe operation of vessels and alleviate the negative effects of uncertain wind and waves during ship navigation, a robust optimization (RO) approach is employed. A case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method, with several comparison analyzes further highlighting its advantages.
The cold ironing system is gaining interest as a promising approach to reduce emissions from ship transportation at ports, enabling further reductions with clean energy sources coordination. While cold ironing has predominantly been applied to long-staying vessels like cruise ships and containers, feasibility studies for short-berthing ships such as ferries are limited. However, the growing demand for short-distance logistics and passenger transfers highlights the need to tackle emissions issues from ferry transportation. Incorporating electrification technology together with integrated energy management systems can significantly reduce emissions from ferry operations. Accordingly, this paper proposes a cooperative cold ironing system integrated with clean energy sources for ferry terminals. A two-stage energy management strategy combining sizing and scheduling optimization is employed to reduce the port's emissions while minimizing system and operational costs. The proposed system configuration, determined through the sizing method, yields the lowest net present cost of $9.04 M. The applied energy management strategy managed to reduce operational costs by up to 63.402 %, while significantly decreasing emissions from both shipside and shoreside operations. From the shipside, emissions reductions of 38.44 % for CO2, 97.7 % for NOX, 96.69 % for SO2, and 92.1 % for PM were achieved. From the shoreside, the approach led to a 28 % reduction across all emission types. Thus, implementing cold ironing powered by clean energy sources is a viable solution for reducing emissions generated by ferry operations. The proposed energy management approach enables emissions reduction and delivering cost-effectiveness at ferry terminals.
This paper addresses the fleet renewal problem and particularly the treatment of uncertainty in the maritime case. A stochastic programming model for the maritime fleet renewal problem is presented. The main contribution is that of assessing whether or not better decisions can be achieved by using stochastic programming rather than employing a deterministic model and using average data. Elements increasing the relevance of uncertainty are also investigated. Tests performed on the case of Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, a major liner shipping company, show that solutions to the model we present perform noticeably better than solutions obtained using average values.
Since time-domain simulations of wave energy converters are computationally expensive, how can we analyse their dynamics and test wide ranges of design variables, without simplifying the physics involved? One possible solution is the use of General Polynomial Chaos (gPC). GPC provides computationally efficient surrogate models for partial differential equation based models, which are particularly useful for sensitivity analysis and uncertainty quantification. We demonstrate the application of gPC to study the dynamics of a wave energy converter in an operational sea-state, when there is uncertainty in the values of the stiffness and damping coefficient of the power take-off.
In this paper, we contribute to the literature on uncertainty and the drivers of social exchange. We explore the 2008 financial crisis and hand-collect unique data on more than 2,700 vessel chartering deals closed in the container shipping industry from 2000 to 2011. Our contribution is twofold. We challenge the literature by finding that low and high status players use different collaborative strategies under uncertainty: the high status players are more prone to coopetition and the low status ones reach out to external buyers. We also extend the literature on social exchange and uncertainty and introduce other constructs: strategic versatility and country-level long-term orientation of the suppliers that we study in our model. Our findings are relevant for policy and managerial decision-makers in the industry.