The Northern Sea Route competitiveness for oil tankers

This article proposes a decision model for a ship-owner who contemplates the benefits of sailing north via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) or south via the Suez Canal Route (SCR) when transporting oil products from Russia to Asia. The decision is based on potential cost and transit time savings that change on a monthly basis according to sailing conditions and the area along the NSR. This study is applied to a 1A Ice-Class Panamax tanker vessel sailing through the NSR compared to a Panamax tanker vessel sailing through the SCR. It concludes that the NSR provides a competitive advantage in the months from August to November when conservative assumptions on ice conditions (higher bound) are considered for the level of ice thickness encountered along the route and from July to November when a lower bound is assumed.     

Case studies of shipping along Arctic routes. Analysis and profitability perspectives for the container sector

Arctic sea routes have for long attracted interest from observers and shipping companies because of their shorter distances between the Atlantic and the Pacific. The prevalence of sea ice prevented the real development of a significant traffic, but did not prevent research from trying to assess the economic viability of these routes. With the actual present melting of sea ice in the Arctic, this effort at modeling the profitability of Arctic shipping routes received a new impetus. However, the conclusions of these studies vary widely, depending on the chosen parameters and their value. What can be said of these models, from 1991 until 2013, and to what extent can a model be drawn, capitalizing on twenty years of simulations?     

Evaluating the effects of speed reduce for shipping costs and CO2 emission

Global greenhouse gas emissions have driven up carbon dioxide levels beyond 400 parts per million, thereby increasing the rate of global warming. This paper conducted a thorough assessment of available operating strategies to identify the approach to speed reduction that is best able to minimize costs and reduce the impact of shipping on the environment. Our results indicate that optimum speed reduction is a dynamic process depending largely on charter rates and fuel prices. The significant cost advantages afforded by this approach could improve the competitiveness of ship operators.     

The multi‐actor,multi‐criteria analysis methodology (MAMCA) for the evaluation of transport projects: Theory and practice

In this paper the multi‐actor multi‐criteria analysis (MAMCA) method to evaluate transport projects is presented. This evaluation method specifically focuses on the inclusion of qualitative as well as quantitative criteria with their relative importance, defined by the multiple stakeholders, into one comprehensive evaluation process in order to facilitate the decision making process by the different stakeholders. The MAMCA methodology is introduced by an overview of other evaluation methods for transport projects in the past and is illustrated by means of two practical cases. The introduction will lead us to the theoretical conception of the MAMCA method where we draw the attention to the proven usefulness of the MAMCA for the evaluation of transport projects and the inclusion of different kinds of stakeholders, individuals as well as groups, into the evaluation process.