A methodology for spatial planning of marine structures considering ship traffic, bathymetry, metocean and ice conditions

Paper i proceeding, 2025

This study presents a novel methodology developed to assess the impact and consequences of shipping from marine spatial planning of new marine structures. It can be applied to identify suitable areas with the least negative influence on existing ship routes, considering ship traffic data (AIS data), bathymetry, ships’ fuel consumption, and metocean and ice conditions. The methodology section outlines the different methods and data sources and how these are integrated. Case studies for the Gulf of Bothnia illustrate the methodology’s capability and give examples of results based on three years of ship traffic with different ice conditions. An example of fuel consumption prediction before and after installing a new offshore wind farm in the Bay of Bothnia is presented to showcase how the environmental impact (emissions) from shipping changes.