Towards Least-CO2 Ferry Routes in the Adriatic Sea

Abstract

Carbon intensity of ship emissions is a cornerstone of contemporary regulatory actions, with measurable targets of reduction being enforced in the coming decade. Short term measures to achieve them include voyage optimization. Therefore, the VISIR ship routing model was upgraded for computing least-CO2 routes depending on ocean analysis products related to waves and sea currents. The speed loss in waves and the CO2 emission rate of a medium size Ro-Pax ship were obtained from a coupled command-bridge engine-room simulator. The geographical and topological features of least-CO2 routes resulting from VISIR were characterised by means of various types of isolines. A case study in the Adriatic Sea leads to bundles of optimal routes with significant spatial diversions even on short-sea routes. The carbon intensity savings were compared to the CO2 savings, highlighting also their dependence on both route lengthening and fractional engine load. For a case study in winter, carbon intensity reductions up to 11% were computed with respect to least-distance routes between the same couple of ports of call. This is promising, as a reduction of this magnitude represents a significant amount of the carbon intensity curbing target required at International level.

Emphasis on Occupancy Rates in Carbon Emission Comparison for Maritime and Road Passenger Transportation Modes

“…The scope of the GUTTA project was to establish optimal sailing routes to achieve minimal carbon emission in the Adriatic Region. The aggregated results of the research are presented in Mannarini et al [8]. THETIS-MRV is a system to report CO 2 emissions from ships according to the EU Regulation 2015/757.…”

“…Moreover, the influence of the optimal vessel route on emissions was discussed in a study by Mannarini et al. [8], with the route being selected based on geographical and topological features. In addition, the influence of vessel speed on fuel consumption and consequently on carbon emissions was addressed in the work of Dagkinis et al [9].…”

“…Moreover, several studies on carbon emissions from maritime transportation in the Mediterranean region have been conducted recently. Manarini et al presented a case study of optimizing routes of a medium-size RO-PAX ship in the Adriatic Sea to reduce carbon emissions [8]. Schembari et al investigated the impact of the European directive on ship emissions on air quality in several Mediterranean harbors [56].…”

Comparison of the on Board Measured and Simulated Exhaust Gas Emissions on the Ro-Pax Vessels

“…The simulator was operated with various simulation scenarios of different weather and engine operating conditions typical for the Adriatic Sea [27] in order to record vessel and engine parameters. The simulator data obtained from these scenarios were partially used for the research published by Mannarini et al [28] and were also used for this analysis in order to compare exhaust emissions from onboard measurements with simulated values.…”

Weather Routing System Architecture Using Onboard Data Collection and Route Optimisation

“…In previous papers of Xia et al (2006aXia et al ( , 2006b. Graph algorithms have also been applied, as described in [6] and [7]which is modified using a directional resolution of less than 27 degrees. The shortest path is recovered using a modified Dijkstra's algorithm.…”