Stowage Planning with Optimal Ballast Water

Abstract

Stowage planning is at the essence of a maritime supply chain, especially for short sea Ro-Ro ships. This paper studies stowage optimisation of Ro-Ro ships with a focus on stability constraints and the applicability of models. The paper contributes to short sea Ro-Ro ship stowage in two ways. First, we propose an integrated approach of designing stowage models with the consideration of loading computers. Second, we present a mathematical formulation of the Ro-Ro Ship Stowage Problem with Ballast Water with a discretisation method, to generate an optimal stowage plan which meets stability requirements by means of the weight of cargoes instead of excess ballast water, i.e. excess fuel consumption. Computational tests based on empirical data indicate significant savings and potential of model application in the real world. Preliminary results show 57.69% ballast water reduction, equivalent to 6.7% fuel savings and CO2 reduction. Additional tests on instances with various cargo weight distribution and discretisation levels are conducted, and finally, improvements are suggested for further research considerations.

Optimal dual cycling operations in roll-on roll-off terminals

“…Recently, interest in RoRo operations has grown, but nonetheless, only a limited number of areas within the RoRo field has been examined. For instance, the area of RoRo stowage is investigated regarding both optimizing stability, energy efficiency, and safety (Jia et al, 2020;Jia and Fagerholt, 2021), as well as packing and shifting costs (Hansen et al, 2016). Moreover, Jia et al (2019) analyze and estimate the discharge time of cargo units on a RoRo vessel based on different loading positions.…”

Ballast Pump Performance Optimization Strategy for Smooth Ship Operations in MV. DK 03

“…In ship operations, the condition of the ship must be maintained when sailing or carrying out loading and unloading tasks so that it remains in a stable condition. Ship stability is the ship's ability to return to its original point after encountering external forces, whether sailing or stationary, such as wind and wave forces, when using a ballast pump system (Jia et al, 2020). The ballast pump system is a system that maintains the ship's stability to fill the ballast tank in the double bottom.…”