Twenty-foot Equivalent Units Research Articles

Carbon emission allocation policy making in liner shipping: A novel approach toward equitable and efficient maritime sustainability

Maritime shipping, an integral component of global trade, accounts for nearly 3% of global carbon dioxide emissions and faces significant challenges in mitigating its carbon footprints. This study addresses the shortcomings of current carbon emission surcharges levied by shipping companies and the deficiencies of allocation methods utilized by the government, such as the inequity of uniform carbon emission charges across diverse origin–destination (od) pairs and the reliance on potentially inaccurate self-reported emissions data to assign carbon emission allowances. We propose a novel approach to carbon emission allocation per twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) container per od pair in liner shipping from the perspective of the government, aiming to enhance government oversight and minimize social costs. Leveraging a bi-level programming model, our research navigates the complex interplay between government regulatory objectives and shipping companies’ operational decisions, identifying a socially optimal carbon allocation policy. Our approach introduces three innovative carbon allocation methods that advance beyond the traditional metric that typically focuses solely on emissions and cargo volume. Our first two innovative methods integrate shipping distances into the carbon allocation process, specifically considering both the actual traveling distance and the shortest sailing distance. Furthermore, we propose the third innovative “harmonic distance,” which is a convex combination of the actual traveling distance and the shortest sailing distance. This measure effectively reflects both the operational realities and equity concerns associated with shipping services. Our findings reveal the effectiveness of utilizing the shortest sailing distance for carbon allocation per TEU per od pair, offering a straightforward, route-independent, and equitable solution. This approach diverges from current industrial practices, favoring a fairer emission allocation basis and balancing the interests of governments, shipping companies, and consumers. Through comprehensive experiments, we demonstrate the superiority of this method in minimizing total social costs and providing a viable path toward environmental sustainability and economic efficiency in liner shipping.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its role in developing Africa’s economies. Case study: Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), Kenya

The main purpose of this paper is to study the potential economic benefits of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to Africa’s economies with case study of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project in Kenya. China has become an important factor in African development. Through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), it is reorganizing the geographical and political space in the Africa, first, by heavily investing in regional connectivity projects, and second, by promoting alternative ideas and concepts of development favourable to a Chinese-centric order in the region. The paper also argues that the BRI is actively shaping a new spatial order in Africa by influencing key stakeholders’ perspectives and preferences. China’s particular visions of global and regional development through the BRI are gaining traction in Africa, making it an indispensable actor with considerable political and economic influence – and thereby challenging the role of traditional development partners in the global south region. China’s engagement with Kenya is a good example of how Beijing approaches economic diplomacy in Africa. Moreover, it’s a revealing case study of how BRI works on the continent. Kenya needs better infrastructure to meet its development needs, and China has been willing to help. The project to upgrade the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is China’s flagship investment project in Kenya. The SGR connects Mombasa, the largest port city in Kenya, to its capital, Nairobi. The Export-Import Bank of China financed 90 percent of the SGR project, while the Kenyan Government contributed the other 10 percent. The China Road and Bridge Corporation led the SGR installation process. This was supposed to signal a contribution to Kenya’s developmental goals and directly spur growth in the construction sector. The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is a mega project that the Kenyan Government has invested in after freedom from the colonial rule. The SGR created around 30,000 new jobs for locals and, in the first year, transported 5.4 million passengers and 1.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (known as TEUs) of shipments across Kenya. If this performance had continued African exports would have increased significantly. The chief economist in the State Department of Infrastructure in the Kenyan Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure claimed that the SGR would increase trade and investment and further employment opportunities to enhance the people’s livelihoods in the East African Community. The paper will analyze how the BRI through SGR has enhanced economy and trade for Africa with a case study of Kenya, how the SGR has reduced unemployment, how the SGR has enhanced both the social aspects and environmental conservation in Kenya. This paper will also reveal that the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) and BRI have massive economic value to Africa and beyond and are crucial to development. The study recommends the completion of the remaining SGR phases in Kenya in the projected time frame for the railway industry to play a positive role in national and continental development.

Causal Inference in Supply Chain Management: How Does Ever Given Accident at the Suez Canal Affect the Prices of Shipping Containers?

In March 2021, the Ever Given, a colossal 4000-meter-long container ship with a capacity of 20,000 TEUs (Twenty-foot equivalent units), became lodged in the Suez Canal for six days, causing a significant disruption. This accident blocked approximately 400 ships, impacting not only the vessel itself and the canal but also global trade and the already strained global supply chain post-pandemic. Our research leverages causal inference techniques to rigorously assess and quantify the causal effects of the Ever Given accident on the World Container Index (WCI). We conducted experiments using time series data from eight major global shipping routes, achieving statistically significant results with a confidence level of 99.89%. This research conclusively demonstrates that the Ever Given incident at the Suez Canal had a substantial impact on shipping container prices, quantifying the effect as a remarkable 40% price increase post-exposure. By offering companies the ability to apply causal inference in understanding cause-and-effect dynamics within their supply chain networks, this study equips them with the knowledge needed to make well-informed decisions, especially in times of disruption, thus facilitating the optimization of their supply chain configuration and operations.

Implementation of Statistics in Container Ship Safety Inspection

The IMO developed the Formal Safety Assessment (FSA), which is a systematic and formalized risk assessment methodology that supports decision-making within the IMO. The main objective of the FSA is to provide detailed information on a ship’s current level of safety and highlight the need for any necessary changes. In the European Union, a comprehensive FSA was conducted primarily for container ships under a project named SAFEDOR [2], which took place from 2005 to 2009. The project’s results were submitted to IMO through MSC83/INF.8, utilizing data on container ship fleets and casualties from 1993 to 2004 for the investigation. During the COVID period, there has been a significant increase in demand for container ships. In 2020, the global container fleet capacity expanded by almost 3%, reaching 281,784,000 deadweight tons (dwt), while container trade experienced a contraction of 1.1%, totaling 149 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) according to UNCTAD [13]. This study aims to enhance and evaluate the safety performance of all container ships by primarily focusing on integrating the IMO-introduced FSA into vessel inspections. This integration will enable the measurement of all container ships globally using the same scale.

An assessment methodology for a modular terminal concept for container barging in seaports

Container transport via inland waterways currently faces several challenges affecting its competitiveness with other modes. These challenges include the high waiting time experienced by container barges and the low priority given to container barges in deepsea ports. To mitigate these challenges, a new concept known as the Modular Mobile Terminal (MMT) is introduced to create a dedicated floating barge handling and consolidation space for containers in deepsea ports.Based on this, the present study proposes an assessment methodology examining the feasibility of the MMT from a logistical and economic perspective. In doing this, a time optimization model was developed to determine the number of MMTs leading to the most time savings for container barges. It also helps target a market by finding the hinterland flows that can be positively linked to the MMTs. Afterward, an economic evaluation is conducted to determine the cost savings for the actors and determine under which conditions the actors would benefit from using the MMT system. The proposed methodology is then applied in a case study for the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam to derive insights into the efficiency and profitability of the MMTs.Results revealed that the MMTs would be most suitable for vessels transporting small cargo volumes below 60 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs). Furthermore, the analysis suggests that two MMTs would be optimal for the port of Antwerp, and four for the port of Rotterdam, to achieve an overall net benefit for all the actors. Thus, it can be concluded that the MMTs are most suitable for handling and consolidating cargoes from container barges with small call sizes.

Power Prediction of a 15,000 TEU Containership: Deep-Learning Algorithm Compared to a Physical Model

The authors proposed a direct comparison between white- and black-box models to predict the engine brake power of a 15,000 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit) containership. A Simplified Naval Architecture Method (SNAM), based on limited operational data, was highly enhanced by including specific operational parameters. An OAT (one-at-a-time) sensitivity analysis was performed to recognize the influences of the most relevant parameters in the white-box model. The black-box method relied on a DNN (deep neural network) composed of two fully connected layers with 4092 and 8192 units. The network consisted of a feed-forward network, and it was fed by more than 12,000 samples of data, encompassing twenty-three input features. The test data were validated against realistic operational data obtained during specific operational windows. Our results agreed favorably with the results obtained for the DNN, which relied on sufficiently observed data for the physical model.

A Sustainable Port-Hinterland Container Transport System: The Simulation-Based Scenarios for CO2 Emission Reduction

This paper calculates the CO2 emissions for the port-hinterland container transport system and proposes possible emission reduction measures. This paper considers the Dhaka–Chittagong port-hinterland transport system in Bangladesh. The port-hinterland transport system represents 70% of the total international maritime containerised trade, including more than 2.0 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year. By implementing different scenarios using a simulation approach, this research suggests a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions for the port-hinterland transport system. The scenarios include infrastructure development and performance and operational efficiency improvement in the port and modal shift for the hinterland. In formulating the scenarios, the current performance statistics of the port and its hinterland as well as the possibility of the implementation of these scenarios are carefully analysed. The findings depict that Bangladesh could significantly contribute to the reduction in port-hinterland CO2 emissions by implementing the suggested scenarios.

State and growth of container cargo flow in Russian railway transport (during COVID-19 pandemic)

The COVID-19 pandemic period in rail freight transportation in Russia is marked by indicators of rapid growth of transit traffic, export and import volumes, the average speed of transportation increase and delivery speed of transit container traffic. The positive dynamics point to the necessity of continuing research in the field of improving the quality of service in this sector of the railway industry.Information materials of transport and logistics companies services were used. The methods and technologies used to improve the quality of service in railway transport were analyzed: reducing the delivery time of goods, increasing the average delivery speed of transit container traffic, identifying the most demanded nomenclature of goods, increasing the total volume of transit container traffic in Russia.Currently, according to the approved Complex Plan of Modernization and Expansion of Mainline Infrastructure, by 2024 the estimated delivery time of transit container transportation across Russia in the West-East direction should be seven days, average delivery speed of transit container traffic should reach 1319 km/day, and the volume of transit container transportation should reach the level of 1656 thousand TEU (Twenty-foot equivalent unit). In this regard, it is necessary to develop a reliable methodology for determining the perspective volumes of container transportation in regular, express and high-speed trains with the identification of the most demanded nomenclature of cargo, taking into account the speed of delivery.

Environmental economic analysis of speed reduction measure onboard container ships.

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has concerned significant care to the reduction of ship emissions and improvement of energy efficiency through operational measures. One of those measures is ship speed reduction, which is classified as a short-term measure; in which the speed is reduced below its designed value. The present paper aims at evaluating the potential energy efficiency, and environmental and economic benefits because of applying speed reduction measures. The research methodology depends on establishing a simple mathematical model for technical, environmental, and economical aspects because of this concept. As a case study, container ships from different categories in a range of 2500-15,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) are investigated. The results show that a 2500 TEU ship can comply with the energy efficiency existing ship index (EEXI) by reducing the service speed to 19 knots. While for the bigger ships, the service speed must be 21.5 knots or below. Furthermore, the operational carbon intensity indicator (CII) has been evaluated for the case studies and found that the CII rating will keep its score between A and C levels if the service speed is equal to or below 19.5 knots. Moreover, the annual profit margin of the ship will be calculated based on applying speed reduction measures. Based on the economical results, the annual profit margin value, and its corresponding optimum speed change with the size of the vessel and the applicable status of carbon taxes.

Research on the effect of number of yard trucks on container terminal throughput

Container terminal productivity is a benchmark for the level of effectiveness of a container port. One indicator of container terminal productivity level can be calculated through yard throughput. Several factors affect yard throughput, one of which is the number of truck terminals. This study aims to investigate the effect of the number of truck terminals on yard throughput at a container terminal. The investigation was conducted using a container terminal simulation which was based on the discrete event simulation method. As a case study, a simulation of a container terminal with a dock length of 300 m with several quay cranes was two units. The simulation was done by parameters adding the number of truck terminals and variations in the capacity of ships coming. The results of the simulation show that an increase in the number of truck terminals affects the number of outputs, depending on the size of the loading and unloading vessels. From the simulation results obtained, the largest yard throughput capacity of 809 containers with the number of truck terminals is 8 units on a shipload of 1,000 twenty-foot equivalent units. The results of this study provide an overview of the needs of the truck terminal in the container terminal. Highlights The yard throughput of the container terminal has been investigated by a simulation model built based on a discrete event simulation The discrete event simulation has obtained the effect of increasing the number of truck terminals on the yard throughputs with container capacity variations from 200 - 1,000 TEUs The increase in speed at the truck terminal is insignificant to increase yard throughput and necessary to do integrated scheduling between the truck terminals, quay cranes, and gantry cranes The increase in the quay crane operation in container terminals will decrease the dwell time of container throughput

Retrofit-induced changes in the radiated noise and monopole source levels of container ships.

The container shipping line Maersk undertook a Radical Retrofit to improve the energy efficiency of twelve sister container ships. Noise reduction, identified as a potential added benefit of the retrofitting effort, was investigated in this study. A passive acoustic recording dataset from the Santa Barbara Channel off Southern California was used to compile over 100 opportunistic vessel transits of the twelve G-Class container ships, pre- and post-retrofit. Post-retrofit, the G-Class vessels' capacity was increased from ~9,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) to ~11,000 TEUs, which required a draft increase of the vessel by 1.5 m on average. The increased vessel draft resulted in higher radiated noise levels (<2 dB) in the mid- and high-frequency bands. Accounting for the Lloyd's mirror (dipole source) effect, the monopole source levels of the post-retrofit ships were found to be significantly lower (>5 dB) than the pre-retrofit ships in the low-frequency band and the reduction was greatest at low speed. Although multiple design changes occurred during retrofitting, the reduction in the low-frequency band most likely results from a reduction in cavitation due to changes in propeller and bow design.

Development of short sea shipping in the north coast of Java Island, Indonesia as a potential market

The island of Java is the smallest of the six major islands in Indonesia. It is, however, the centre of national economic activity because 75% of industrial areas are located on this island, accounting for 59% of the national gross domestic product. The movement of goods on the island of Java reached 160.5 million tons, with trucks accounting for 90.3% of the total, contributing to traffic congestion. The ratio of road capacity to traffic volume on various major roads reached 1.3. This study aims to investigate how to reduce this ratio to 0.8 on the roads of Java by developing a short sea shipping transportation route from Jakarta to Surabaya. This study has never been conducted by the Ministry of Transportation of the Republic of Indonesia. According to the findings of the study, the potential cargo for short sea shipping reached 3.98 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). One of the most suitable types of vessels to be developed is the motorised container barge (MCB), which could operate on 88 voyages per year and have a capacity of 900 or 1,000 TEUs. The freight rate for short sea shipping ranges from $ 447 to $ 458 per TEUs, resulting in a benefit-cost ratio of 1.5 at a load factor of 70%. The freight rate is less expensive than the truck freight rate after adding the cost of trucking to and from the hinterland.

Towards a Green Port strategy: The decarbonisation of the Port of Vigo (NW Spain)

Carbon footprint (CF) has become a crucial piece to develop strategies to tackle the climate change issue. Its implementation makes it possible establishing a path towards decarbonisation with the aim to comply with European and global greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions guidelines and commitments. Currently, several tools for calculating the CF are available. However, the differences in the calculation methodology and data collection prevent comparative studies based on the results obtained to be made. For this reason, CEDEX (Centro de Estudios y Experimentación de Obras Públicas), commissioned by Puertos del Estado, prepared a good practice guide with a common methodology for calculating the CF of Spanish Ports. In this study, we tested this standardized methodology for the first time in the Port of Vigo (NW Spain) during a four-year period (2017–2020), developing a web tool to facilitate its application, with the ultimate aim to extend its implementation nationwide. This work demonstrates the suitability of the CEDEX methodology to quantify the CF in harbours, and to assess the interannual evolution of the emissions, thus facilitating the assessment of the different environmental strategies implemented in the port to achieve the emissions reduction targets. The main CF loads are derived from the loading/unloading operations, due to the consumption of fuel, accounting to a value of 14,161 kg CO2 eq per TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit). With the implementation of the methodology developed in this study, a reduction of 55 % of GHG emissions could be achieved in all port activities, thus complying with the objectives of the European Green Deal for 2030.

Verification of Fuel Consumption and Carbon Dioxide Emissions under Sulfur Restriction Policy during Oceanographic Navigation

The paper presents a comparison of the fuel oil (FO) consumption and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of a container ship’s 8000 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) during oceanographic navigation. The evaluation has two types of FOs: a 3.4% heavy fuel oil with desulfurization (HFOWD) and a 0.5% very-low-sulfur fuel oil (VLSFO), based on the sulfur cap policy of the International Maritime Organization (IMO). The results show the average FO consumption at 130 tons/day of HFOWD and 141 tons/day of VLSFO, which means shifting to VLSFO increases fuel consumption 8.4% more than the HFOWD. The average CO2 emissions are 429 tons/day of the HFOWD and 471 tons/day of the VLSFO, indicating an 9.5% increase in CO2 emissions when the IMO adopts the low-sulfur fuel policy. Moreover, the VLSFO blending of various chemicals further deteriorates and wears out the main engine of the ship. IMO’s low-sulfur fuel policy significantly reduced the emission of sulfur oxides (SOX) and particulate matter emissions. Still, we should not ignore the fact that adopting VLSFO may cause more CO2 emissions. Therefore, while switching to low-sulfur fuels, the maritime industry should improve the related energy efficiency to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

Prediction of main particulars of container ships using artificial intelligence algorithms

The value of the main ship particulars are key values to determine during initial design of a vessel, but they can be complex to determine, as they depend on a large number of factors. The presented research attempts to model the main particulars: length between perpendiculars (LPP), length overall (LOA), modulated breadth (B), depth (D), draught (T), gross tonnage (GT), net tonnage (NT), deadweight (DWT), and engine power, using only key request factors: number of twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) the vessel is expected to carry, and the expected speed of the ship (V). As this is a complex task, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques are applied to the dataset consisting of 250 container ships. Two modeling techniques are used: multilayer perceptron (MLP) and gradient boosted trees (GBT). The model hyperparameters are trained using a grid search procedure and evaluated using mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) and coefficient of determination (R2) in a 5-fold cross-validation scheme. The obtained results show that a quality model can be achieved using both techniques, except in the case of engine power for which a high-quality model has not been regressed. Models presented here can have practical application in the determination of the ship’s main particulars at the preliminary design stage.

An Artificial Neural Network for fuel efficiency analysis for cargo vessel operation

There is increasing interest in understanding fuel consumption from the perspective of increasing energy efficiency on a vessel. Thus the aim of this paper is to present a new framework for data-driven estimation of fuel consumption by employing a combination of (i) traditional statistical analysis and (ii) Artificial Neural Networks. The output of the analysis is the most frequently occurring fuel-speed curves corresponding to the respective operational profile. The inputs to the model consider important explanatory variables like draft, sea current and wind. The methodology is applied to a case study of a fleet of 9000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) vessels, in which telemetry data on the fuel consumption, vessel speed, current, wind direction and strength were analysed. The performance of the method is validated in terms of error estimation criterion like R2 values and against physical phenomena obtained from the data. The results can be used to study the economic and environmental benefits of slow-steaming and or fuel levies, or by extending this part of the model into exergy analysis for a more holistic review of energy saving initiatives.

Operational performance model for Indian container terminals using qualitative comparative analysis

Trend forecasting shows that Indian container terminals will handle 25 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) by 2025. However, improving operational performance is the best strategy to achieve this target. Many factors have adversely affected the Indian container terminal's operational performance despite the fact that the Indian government has undertaken several initiatives. This study identifies factors and interactive effects of the factors influencing the operational performance of Indian container terminals. A conceptual model is developed using fuzzy qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) encompassing the successful factors. The conceptual model developed through QCA includes the physical characteristics, driving factors, and challenges. This study reveals the combined and individual effects of the identified factors. The results show that the most common factors are the quay infrastructure, yard infrastructure, infrastructure up-gradation, system initiatives, reefer systems, and logistics advantage. This study adds to the existing literature regarding the Indian container terminals' performance and supports the decision-makers in improving the operational performance of container terminals.

A New Record of the Introduced Species Triatoma infestans (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) in Mexico.

Here, we report a new record of Triatoma infestans (Klug) in Mexico after 50 years and provide a brief description of the discovery area. Fifty-nine specimens (71.2% adults) of the introduced species were collected from the peridomestic areas of a single house in the port of Manzanillo in the state of Colima, Mexico. Thirty-one specimens (52.5%) were collected from the exterior walls of the house and were apparently attracted to light. The other specimens (47.5%) were associated with chickens. No specimen was infected with Trypanosoma cruzi Chagas, the causative agent of Chagas disease, possibly because they were feeding on chickens. We speculate that the introduced species travelled from South America to Mexico via seed shipment in a twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) maritime container. Because Mexican phytosanitary regulations demand only the cargo to be inspected, the triatomines could have escaped notice during inspection. Subsequently, as the cargo was unloaded and the TEU was stored, the triatomines likely flew to and invaded the nearby residential areas. The rediscovery of this domestic vector of T. cruzi in Mexico warrants further investigation owing to the potential risk of transmission to the inhabitants of the study area.

Collision-accidental limit states-based safety studies for a LNG-fuelled containership

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is an increasingly popular fuel alternative of ships for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The interest in LNG fuel propulsion systems is rapidly growing, yet certain important safety design and engineering issues remain poorly constrained. The safety of LNG-fuelled ships must be assessed in terms of the potential structural damage owing to collision accidents and resulting LNG spills, especially for ship types that store the LNG storage tank within the cargo hold. In this paper, accidental limit state (ALS) based safety assessment for LNG-fuelled containership structures using nonlinear finite element methods is studied at the most unfavourable scenario of collisions between a striking ship's bow and a struck ship's LNG fuel tank, where the struck ship is in full load condition at a standstill, while the striking ship of the same size as the struck ship has different loading conditions in the ballast load condition, 50% partial load condition and full load condition, with varying collision speed at 0.5, 3, 6 and 9 knots. A hypothetical 9,000 TEU (Twenty-foot Equivalent Unit) LNG-fuelled containership was designed in accordance with the requirements for the international gas fuel transport standards, accommodating a membrane-type LNG fuel tank located amidship. It is found from the present study that inner side hull structures of the struck ship can be damaged in ship-ship collisions, and the current industrial guidelines for LNG fuel tank designs are required to amend to apply for LNG-fuelled ships.

Analitičko istraživanje požara u teretnom prostoru kontejnerskih brodova u razdoblju od 2010. do 2020.

Container transport by sea has almost doubled in the last decade. Accordingly, container ships’ size has increased significantly, and the latest container ships carry up to 24000 Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEU). In the near future, the appearance of container ships with a capacity of 25000 TEUs can be expected on the market, because the design is already available. It is known that 10-12% of transported containers contain International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) cargo. The above stated reasons directly impact the frequency of container ship fires in cargo spaces. According to the Insurance Companies, fires occur on average every two months, and this is a growing problem of container transport by sea. In this paper, 23 fires in the cargo area, either in cargo holds or on deck, were analysed. The analysis results determined the most common causes of fires and have shown that the current fire protection systems on container ships are ineffective. It is unacceptable that firefighting systems’ inefficiency results in the loss of human lives, abandonment of vessels, environmental pollution, and extensive property losses related to cargo and ship structure. Due to all the above, it is necessary to continuously work on new regulatory and technical solutions to improve the fire safety of cargo areas on container ships.