Abstract
The downstream sectors of the hydrocarbon industry in the Middle East are growing quickly. Due to their geographical locations, they need to transport products from manufacturing plants at one port to other hub ports for international shipping, forming complex closed-loop shipping systems. Such domestic shipping systems are also typical logistics structures in many energy and heavy industries near coastal regions. The operations in such systems are frequently lagging due to uncertainties, such as weather and unexpected events, and the lack of effective management techniques. More reliable and efficient systems require a better vessel operations management policy than one based on a first-available-first-use policy and constant voyage speed. This study develops a detailed and realistic simulation model to evaluate the economic and environmental performance of a closed-loop vessel shipping system, considering various uncertainties from weather and port operations. Furthermore, the optimization model has been incorporated into the simulation model to prescribe the optimal number of vessels and voyage speed to minimize the total costs. A new vessel dispatching policy, large-vessel-first-use, has been proposed and compared with the first-available-first-use policy using the developed model. Increased use of large vessels and slower voyage speeds significantly benefited the total costs and environmental effects. The optimal solution presented the potential to save 26.8% of the total cost and reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 39% compared with the current operating condition.
Highlights
The Middle East is well established as a crude oil and natural gas exporter and now is expanding investment in the refining and petrochemicals market
In case C1, the forward and backward speed factors are decision factors determined by the optimization model
The present study has successfully developed a simulation model for a closed-loop vessel shipping system considering various uncertainties from weather and uncontrollable delays at destination ports
Summary
The Middle East is well established as a crude oil and natural gas exporter and now is expanding investment in the refining and petrochemicals market. Agency has reported that refinery output from the Middle East is set to increase by 60% by. It is anticipated that reliance on the supply chain’s ability to facilitate the transportation of petrochemical products will significantly increase. The particle-type petrochemical products, such as polyethylene and polypropylene, are usually packaged in a container and transported by a container ship, allowing transshipment at a port. The geographical features of the Middle East usually force manufacturers to transport hydrocarbon products from manufacturing sites near one port to a few hub ports for international shipping. Such domestic shipping systems generally form a closed-loop shipping system with dedicated vessels and require infrastructure management. Manufacturers need integrated management to handle vessel operations and related infrastructure, entailing various issues and complexity
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