ShipCLEAN – An integrated model for transport efficiency, economics and CO2 emissions in shipping

Paper in proceeding, 2019

To achieve IMO’s goals 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, such as hull shape and engines, but aim for an optimization of the complete marine transport system. Such optimization includes fleet planning, harbour logistics, route planning, speed profiles, weather routing and ship design, including alternative fuels and propulsion. ShipCLEAN, a newly developed model, introduces a coupling of a marine transport economics model to a sophisticated ship energy systems model to predict the fuel consumption of ships at sea – it provides a leap towards a holistic optimization of marine transport system. This paper introduces the three major parts of the model and their couplings: (i) a generic ship energy system model for calm water performance prediction, (ii) a 4DOF model for the prediction of a ship’s fuel consumption at sea, including alternative/complementary propulsion system such as sails, and (iii) a transport economics model for the costs, earnings and CO2  emissions. The ShipCLEAN model provides the opportunity to combine a sophisticated fuel consumption prediction, including environmental influences (wind, waves, ocean currents), operational conditions (loading condition, speed, involuntary speed losses) and ship design (engine layout, ship characteristics) with a detailed cost and time model for fleet planning, scheduling and speed optimization. The submodels of the ShipCLEAN model are based on empirical methods, numerical standard hull and propeller series and standard engine layouts and can thus easily be applied to all conventional cargo ships or fleets consisting of a combination of different ships. The potential of the ShipCLEAN model is shown in two case studies, a Pacific Ocean liner shipping trade (container vessel) and a study of different Flettner Rotors on a MR tanker on a North Atlantic trade.