Estimation of CO2 reduction for Japanese domestic container transportation based on mathematical models

Abstract

This research discusses domestic feeder container transportation connected with international trades in Japan. Optimal round trip courses of container ship fleet from the perspective of CO2 emission reduction are calculated and analyzed to obtain basic knowledge about CO2 emission reduction in the container feeder transportation system. Specifically, based on the weekly origin–destination (OD) data at a hub port (Kobe) and other related transportation data, the ship routes are designed by employing a mathematical modeling approach. First, a mixed integer programming model is formulated and solved by using an optimization software that employs branch and bound algorithm. The objective function of the model is to minimize the CO2 emission subject to necessary (and partially simplified) constraints. The model is then tested on various types of ships with different speed and capacity. Moreover, it is also tested on various waiting times at hub port to investigate the effect in CO2 emission of the designated fleet. Both the assessment method of container feeder transportation and the transportation’s basic insights in view of CO2 emission are shown through the analysis.