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Shipping in the era of digitalization: Mapping the future strategic plans of major maritime commercial actors
No full textThe so-called “Fourth Industrial revolution”, also termed as “Industry 4.0” in the wider literature, is associated with several cutting-edge technologies. Indicative examples in this category are advanced applications like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data Analytics (BDA), Cloud Computing and Internet of Things (IoT), which are already influencing the maritime industry. It is indicative of the fact that there are several construction projects of autonomous ships, such as the Yara Birkeland and the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS), which are heavily reliant on technologies associated with the Industry 4.0 concept. The maritime transport industry is already transitioning into a new operations paradigm, often termed as “shipping in the era of digitalization”. Shipping companies promote digitalization as the future of the maritime industry and their efforts to set up strategies are already in progress. Examining those visions and strategies in relation to digitalization would be beneficial to better understand the way towards which the maritime industry is heading. This paper is aiming to identify the characteristics of that pool of future plans via a qualitative review and with a particular focus on major maritime commercial actors, based on shipping companies\u27 relevant action plans that were gathered online. A conclusion standing out is that major shipping companies have embraced digitalization to increase cost-efficiency, raise competitiveness and meet the needs of their customers
Ignition improvers for aqueous ammonia as marine fuel
Get PDFThe potential of three molecules NH4NO2, H2O2, and O3 to ignite aqueous solutions of ammonia (25% by mass) as fuel, was investigated using chemical kinetic simulations at conditions representative of a two-stroke marine diesel engine. The purpose was to address two of the most prominent issues with making ammonia a practical fuel for marine applications: the difficulty of igniting ammonia, and the safety concerns regarding its volatility and toxicity. The ignition simulations carried out to this end used a two-zone reactor model of the engine, representing the ignition zone into which fuel was injected, and the bulk cylinder gases, respectively. The results suggested that all three ignition improving molecules were able to ignite aqueous ammonia reliably and at high combustion efficiency with acceptable levels of NO, N2O and NH3 emissions. Among the three fuel formulations investigated, H2O2 in 12% aqueous solution by mass, promised the lowest emissions of NO and N2O in the exhaust gases. This fuel blend added in a mole fraction of 0.15 to 0.85 aqueous ammonia at 25% by mass and promised to be the most practical solution, since it is stable and can be stored safely in a separate tank until injected into the engine
Green Ammonia Supply Chain Design for Maritime Transportation
No full textRecently, there has been increased discussion about the potential of green ammonia as a carbon-free fuel for maritime transportation. If deployed at scale, the demand for ammonia from the shipping industry would be immense such that significant new investments had to be made in green ammonia infrastructure, including entire supply chains of new production sites and ammonia refueling ports. In this work, we develop an optimization model for the design of such a green ammonia supply chain. The proposed model integrates a large set of decisions, including the location of production plants and refueling ports, operational decisions related to green ammonia production using renewable energy, and ship routing decisions. This results in a complex mixed-integer linear programming formulation, which we apply to an illustrative case study to demonstrate its potential to address the given supply chain design problem
A Conceptual Transdisciplinary Framework to Overcome Energy Efficiency Barriers in Ship Operation Cycles to Meet IMO’s Initial Green House Gas Strategy Goals: Case Study for an Iranian Shipping Company
No full textThrough a systematic, holistic and transdisciplinary approach and by proposing five phases of “goal information”, “system analyzing”, “scenario construction”, “multi-criteria assessment” and “strategy building”, the study offers a process for recognizing and prioritizing energy-efficient barriers in the ship’s operational cycle according to decision-makers’ concerns. The study utilized the proposed conceptual transdisciplinary framework for overcoming energy efficiency barriers in ship operating cycles. The framework categorizes the barriers in the operational cycle into five disciplines, i.e., operations, policy and regulations, technology and innovation, human element and economics, and applies the framework to an Iranian shipping company. The results show that the economic discipline has the highest priority, and the human discipline has the least importance for the company’s decision makers. In addition, “Adverse selection” (operational discipline), “policy implementation” (policy and regulatory discipline), “split incentives” (economic discipline), “limited access to capital” (economic discipline) and “imperfect budgeting” were the main barriers to energy efficiency in the company
Cyber-physical security for ports infrastructure
Get PDFTaking advantage of the benefits associated with digital means has become a main priority for ports globally. The effective and smooth integration of Information Technology (IT) applications and those systems that support the conduct of operations (Operational Technology (OT) systems), along with the accurate “adjustment” of the human factor elements should be viewed as a very critical pillar for optimized safe and efficient operations in ports. The afore mentioned assimilation characterizes cyber-physical systems and entails an extended number of IT and OT modules, systems and tasks involving various data transmission routes that are advancing in a technological and operational level alongside plausible cybersecurity threats. These cybersecurity risks, threats and vulnerabilities are depicted in this article to emphasize the progression of cyber- physical systems in the wider maritime industry and port domains, along with their rising cybersecurity vulnerabilities. Existing and applicable industry and government standards and mandates associated with cybersecurity attempt to impose regulatory compliance and increase asset cybersecurity integrity with reduced emphasis however, in the existing OT (Operational Technology) components and systems. The use of security risk assessment tools and processes that are used in other industrial sectors, such as the Security Risk Assessment (SRA) and the Bow Tie Analysis methods, can support the evaluation of IT/OT infrastructure for cyber-physical security susceptibilities and then assign suitable reactive measures. The implementation of cybersecurity safeguards that arise through the implementation of the MITRE ATT&CK Threat Model can enhance the cybersecurity posture of those assets that support the logistics chain, assuming that they are intermittently adapted following evaluations for their effectiveness and suitability. Finally, the improvement of stakeholder communication and cyber-awareness along with the increase in cyber- physical security resiliency can further be aided by the effective convergence of the segregated cyber and physical security elements of waterside or landside-based IT/OT infrastructure
A policy impact evaluation of the regional cooperation agreement on combating piracy and armed robbery against ships in Asia
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