Abstract for: Strategy Analysis to Control Emissions from Ships at Berth: A System Dynamics Approach

The contribution of maritime transport to air pollution is significant and necessitates a call for effective strategies to regulate ship emissions. Since most major ports are part of major cities, it is inferred that the emissions from ships at berth are the most harmful due to their proximity to the human population. Effective strategies are required to regulate these emissions in order to reduce risks to human health. This paper proposes a System Dynamics methodology to assess the effectiveness of strategies employed to reduce emissions from ships at berth. Though there is high uncertainty in the estimation of ship emissions, one particular research suggests that a correlation between fuel consumption and gross tonnage of a ship can be established. The inputs from this research were taken to approximate the emissions from ships and the threat to environment was quantified to automatically select the appropriate strategy. Behaviours of various system parameters were studied and the effective range for each strategy was determined based on the port traffic.