Integration of port approach in the port call: Using information-sharing and Virtual Arrival for the reduction of vessel emissions

In 2018, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted a resolution to reduce the emission of greenhouse gasses of maritime shipping in the near future. A reduction of 50% in CO2-emissions is the goal for the year 2050 in comparison to 2008. Furthermore, the peak in emissions should lie before 2025 and steadily decrease afterwards.Low-hanging fruit regarding the reduction of emissions is operations optimization. Information-sharing about the proces status of different vessels is deemed the integrator for optimization of the port call and the reduction of vessel emissions. This thesis focusses on the impact of increased information-sharing in the port call by the design of a preliminary model regarding port call optimization as well as a possible concept development using rolling-horizon arrival and departure scheduling. Reduction of emissions is obtained through the installment of a virtual arrival policy. The outcome of this study shows that such a strategy indeed can result in lower emissions. This outcome was obtained based on discreet event simulation of the port call process of a large port in Australia. For the proposed rolling horizon scheduling strategy, the reduction of emissions was 16.5% but it comes at the cost of extra time in the port call.Marine Technology | Transport Engineering and Logistic