Efficiency of Ship Operation in Transportation of Oversized and Heavy Cargo by Optimizing the Speed Mode Considering the Impact of Weather Conditions

Abstract

Prior to commencing the voyage planning procedure, the entire navigation area on the forthcoming passage should be divided into several sections, depending on various factors, such as traffic density, restricted depths, availability of ship reporting systems, hydrometeorological conditions, high risk navigation areas in order to outline measures to ensure the safety of ship’s navigation. In addition, these factors have direct impact on the ship’s speed during the voyage. On the other hand, slow steaming can reduce fuel consumption on the same section of the route by 10-15%. Reducing the ship’s speed can significantly minimize its operating costs. However, when choosing economically feasible ship’s speed it should be kept in mind that reducing the speed can lead to a significant decrease in the number of voyages per year and, consequently, to the reduction of annual freight income. Therefore, a practically important and relevant problem is the necessity to find the speed of ship operation, which will provide a balance between economical fuel consumption and profits from ship operation. The classic approach to optimizing the speed mode of ships is based on the cubic dependence of fuel consumption on speed. Therefore, depending on the distance between ports, the duration of the voyage and the conditions for the time of arrival of the ship to the port, in the modern publications were proposed approaches to the optimization of the speed mode, based on the additional income or time-charter equivalent.

Keywords

• ship speed optimization
• oversized and heavy cargo
• route specifics
• weather conditions
• time-charter equivalent