A Three-Dimensional Dijkstra’s algorithm for multi-objective ship voyage optimization

Journal article, 2019

In this paper, a Three-Dimensional Dijkstra’s optimization algorithm is proposed to allow a ship to plan her waypoints and sailing speeds along each waypoint. It is expected to generate global optimum solutions for ship routes. Its capability of fuel saving as objectives is demonstrated by comparing its results with those obtained from other conventional voyage optimization algorithms, and the actual fuel consumption of a container ship with full-scale measurements. The proposed Three-Dimensional Dijkstra’s algorithm can generate global opti- mum ship routing encountering less harsh sea environment, leading to at least 5% reduction of fuel consumption within the analysed cases. Furthermore, it can perform multi-objective voyage optimization, such as minimum fuel, minimum damage accumulation, lowest crack propagation, etc., with accurate ETA in the planning process.