Bi-level optimization model applications in managing air emissions from ships: A review

Ship air emissions have become one of the major concerns of the maritime industry, and therefore various regulations and policies have been issued to manage air emission from ships. Although the rules are made and enacted by competent authorities with good intentions, the actual effect depends on the operation decisions of the maritime industry, which conducts the transportation works. Considering this bi-level structure in practice, bi-level optimization models have been extensively applied in studies investigating problems related to ship air emission management. Thus, in this research, we first abstracted the basic bi-level optimization problem in the studies, and then categorized the applications by the ship operation problems considered and the policies involved.

 

They published their study on November 30, 2021, in Communications in Transportation Research.

 

In the applications reviewed, the upper-level decision maker is always the governments of various countries and areas or nongovernmental organizations such as the International Maritime Organization, designing and enacting policies. Meanwhile, in the lower-level model, the maritime industry, including carriers such as shipping companies who conduct the transportation works, makes operation decisions on behalf of its own interests.

 

Related papers were reviewed after the abstract model. First, we reviewed the applications of bi-level optimization models related to ship fleet management. Studies exploring the ship deployment problem under the Energy Efficiency Design Index and the Nitrogen Emission Control Area were reviewed to summarize the bi-level structure in them. Next, we reviewed the studies investigating the scheduling problem of a single vessel under the emission management policies. The influences of the Sulfur Emission Control Area, the Carbon intensity indicator, the Vessel speed reduction incentive programs, and the Market based measures on ship scheduling were analyzed by reviewing corresponding papers. Besides, the interrelationship between the stringent sulfur content restriction on marine fuels and the oil refinery industry was also covered in this research.

 

According to the papers reviewed and our analysis, the reaction of the maritime industry to the policies may go against the initial intention and have a negative effect on ship air emission reduction.

 

In addition to bi-level optimization model, machine learning model is also a promising method to assist ship air emission management and deserves further research. It would be a great honor if this review can provide help for scholars interested in ship air emission management and inspire them to further investigate optimization problems in this area.

 

The above research is published in Communications in Transportation Research (COMMTR), which is a fully open access journal co-published by Tsinghua University Press and Elsevier. COMMTR publishes peer-reviewed high-quality research representing important advances of significance to emerging transport systems. COMMTR is also among the first transportation journals to make the Replication Package mandatory to facilitate researchers, practitioners, and the general public in understanding and advancing existing knowledge. At its discretion, Tsinghua University Press will pay the open access fee for all published papers from 2021 to 2025.

 

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About Communications in Transportation Research

 

Communications in Transportation Research publishes peer-reviewed high-quality research representing important advances of significance to emerging transport systems. The mission is to provide fair, fast, and expert peer review to authors and insightful theories, impactful advances, and interesting discoveries to readers. We welcome submissions of significant and general topics, of inter-disciplinary nature (transport, civil, control, artificial intelligence, social science, psychological science, medical services, etc.), of complex and inter-related system of systems, of strong evidence of data strength, of visionary analysis and forecasts towards the way forward, and of potentially implementable and utilizable policies/practices. Communications in Transportation Research is a fully open access journal. It is co-published by Tsinghua University Press and Elsevier, and sponsored by the State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy (Tsinghua University). At its discretion, Tsinghua University Press will pay the open access fee for all published papers from 2021 to 2025.

-    80+ submissions from 20 countries in 6 continents;

-    24 published papers in Volume 2021 from 12 countries;

-    67 Google Scholar citations since the first paper was online in Aug 2021;

-    54 editorial board members from 19 countries with 12 Fellows of various Academies.

 

 

About Tsinghua University Press

 

Established in 1980, belonging to Tsinghua University, Tsinghua University Press (TUP) is a leading comprehensive higher education and professional publisher in China. Committed to building a top-level global cultural brand, after 41 years of development, TUP has established an outstanding managerial system and enterprise structure, and delivered multimedia and multi-dimensional publications covering books, audio, video, electronic products, journals and digital publications. In addition, TUP actively carries out its strategic transformation from educational publishing to content development and service for teaching & learning and was named First-class National Publisher for achieving remarkable results.

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