An overview of integrated maritime optimisation approaches
Date Issued
January 2025
Abstract
As the need for more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient operations becomes
increasingly urgent, shipping — Shipping, despite being a carbon-efficient mode of
transport — faces mounting pressure to adapt. The growing awareness of climate
change and its impacts has led to a push for the decarbonisation of maritime transport,
an industry responsible for approximately 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. With
international trade largely dependent on shipping, ensuring that maritime operations
become more sustainable is essential for achieving broader global climate targets. This
transition towards sustainability is especially crucial because of the sector's worldwide
magnitude, which is growing in tandem with the surging shipping demand. The industry
must fulfil these demands while substantially minimising its environmental impact...
Alongside the increase in shipping demand, the transition to net-zero necessitates more
environmental restrictions, which are expressed through policies (e.g., Emissions
Trading Systems - ETS, etc.). Through a brief review of these new mandates, this paper
provides a general overview of the main methods and simulation and optimisation
models that have been proposed so far for analysing sustainable shipping scenarios,
combining techno-economic and environmental parameters. These models combine
techno-economic and environmental parameters to offer a comprehensive
understanding of potential pathways for decarbonisation. Optimisation models
considering technical shipping, fuels and costs, alternative fuels, transition rates, and
various 'what-if' or policy scenarios, have been largely used to provide guidance to
policymakers with respect to shipping decarbonisation. Herein, different case studies
and scales are considered, in order to provide a more holistic picture of the technoeconomic and environmental optimisation modelling approaches in maritime
operations. Finally, different scenarios examined by these models are discussed,
including different modelling casesrelated to the economic prices of various parameters,
shipping demand, the stringency of environmental policies, and more. The findings of
this research provide valuable insights for policymakers, shipping industry stakeholders,
and researchers as they explore different models, and develop strategies to balance the
need for increased shipping capacity with the imperative of environmental
sustainability
increasingly urgent, shipping — Shipping, despite being a carbon-efficient mode of
transport — faces mounting pressure to adapt. The growing awareness of climate
change and its impacts has led to a push for the decarbonisation of maritime transport,
an industry responsible for approximately 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions. With
international trade largely dependent on shipping, ensuring that maritime operations
become more sustainable is essential for achieving broader global climate targets. This
transition towards sustainability is especially crucial because of the sector's worldwide
magnitude, which is growing in tandem with the surging shipping demand. The industry
must fulfil these demands while substantially minimising its environmental impact...
Alongside the increase in shipping demand, the transition to net-zero necessitates more
environmental restrictions, which are expressed through policies (e.g., Emissions
Trading Systems - ETS, etc.). Through a brief review of these new mandates, this paper
provides a general overview of the main methods and simulation and optimisation
models that have been proposed so far for analysing sustainable shipping scenarios,
combining techno-economic and environmental parameters. These models combine
techno-economic and environmental parameters to offer a comprehensive
understanding of potential pathways for decarbonisation. Optimisation models
considering technical shipping, fuels and costs, alternative fuels, transition rates, and
various 'what-if' or policy scenarios, have been largely used to provide guidance to
policymakers with respect to shipping decarbonisation. Herein, different case studies
and scales are considered, in order to provide a more holistic picture of the technoeconomic and environmental optimisation modelling approaches in maritime
operations. Finally, different scenarios examined by these models are discussed,
including different modelling casesrelated to the economic prices of various parameters,
shipping demand, the stringency of environmental policies, and more. The findings of
this research provide valuable insights for policymakers, shipping industry stakeholders,
and researchers as they explore different models, and develop strategies to balance the
need for increased shipping capacity with the imperative of environmental
sustainability