Model for Environmental Assessment of Container Ship Transport

A generic computer model for systematic investigations of container ship designs is described in this paper. The primary statistical data on container ships used for the model development are also presented. The model can be used to calculate exhaust gas emissions from container ships, including emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2).

A calculation procedure to estimate the newly designated Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI), which is under development at the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), is included in the model. Different ship design parameters have been varied to see the influence of these parameters on the EEDI.

It is found possible to reduce EEDI by roughly 20 % without reducing ship speed, but only by changing some of the design parameters, such as reducing the sea margin by using a derated main engine, increasing the length of the ship by 5 %, and reducing steel weight by 3 % via steel weight optimization.