Sustainable short sea shipping: social component analysis through decision networks

Abstract

Economic globalisation and the decentralisation of production and consumption centres have led to major congestion problems in the main European corridors and environmental pollution. As a result, the EU put forward a number of policies and measures to alleviate this situation, such as promoting short sea shipping (SSS). However, it was noted that it was necessary to search for alternative fuels. This study analysed the implementation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as fuel for the purpose of SSS, using decision networks. The target of this work was to identify the relationships between the different variables that come into play in decision making in order to help managers achieve sustainable traffic on the motorways of the sea. The main finding was that the capacity of regasification terminals for LNG under construction and the modal distribution of inland water cargo transportation are the two most important variables for the decision to implement LNG as fuel.