Stolt tankers is the largest operator of deep-sea chemical parcel tankers. Parcel tankers differentiate form bulk chemical tankers by the additional features that the ships have, such as cargo cooling, cargo heating, many (small) cargo tanks, highest level of chemical resistant materials and notation to carry the most dangerous chemicals. These features make the parcel tanker versatile compared to other tanker types, however this results in a higher cost. In the last twenty years, a shift has taken place in the deep-sea chemical shipping industry, driven by changes in regulations, funding of ships and macroeconomic factors. These changes have made the playing field of deep-sea chemical tankers more equal and commoditised, resulting in more competition by entries of new, privately funded companies with simple chemical tankers. Currently a large part of the parcel tanker fleet is nearing their end of lifetime and are expected to be recycled in the next five years. This creates the need to determine operating needs and requirements for replacements of Stolt Tankers’ ageing parcel tanker fleet. The goal of this study is twofold, first, is to determine the need for parcel tanker features in the market and, secondly, to determine the value that these features add. The findings have been concluded in terms of a priority for the feature in a new parcel tanker specification according to the MoSCoW prioritising technique.Analysis of the features is based on D37 parcel tanker class of Stolt Tankers. This typical parcel tanker class is a candidate for recycling in the next 5 years, and therefore a ideal study object for a replacement study. Four features were identified as giving the highest differentiation of a parcel tanker and are analysed in more detail: cargo cooling, cargo heating with thermal oil heating medium, small cargo tanks, and ship type 1notation. These features are analysed both qualitatively and qualitatively on its operation in the Stolt fleet, market demand and supply, competition and alternatives. The net added value of the features over the life of the ship has been calculated by means of a discounted cash flow analysis for base-,best and worst case scenarios.The cargo cooling feature yields the best added value for a new parcel tanker. The thermal oil cargo heating feature has a negative added net present value for only cargoes with this specific requirement. The study of the ship type notation has a low investment cost, however the loss of revenue by the capacity reduction is far more than potential revenues from thetype 1 cargoes. The number of cargo tanks has a large impact of the capital cost of the ship.Reducing the number of cargo tanks, i.e. the average tank size, yields a relatively large savingfor parcel tanker ship types. Combined with a decrease in the number of small cargoes, makes this a logical development for future parcel tankers. However, more research is required since there is a large discrepancy between the number of small cargoes on different trade routes.Based on the findings from the market and operational review of the D37 features the following priorities are given to the features. The cargo cooling system has been given a’Should Have’priority, the thermal oil cargo heating system has a’Could Have’and the ship type 1 notation a’Won’t Have’. Further research is recommended for the requirement of features of new ships with respect to the total fleet of Stolt Tankers. Secondly, modelling of cargo tank layouts with the statistical trading data is recommended to determine the requirements for the number and sizes ranges of cargo tanks

Nowadays the interest for environmental issues is steadily gaining ground. Inescapably, the shipping industry, is also called to contribute its fair share towards the reduction of air pollution. Harbour tugboats need to comply both with international but also with local exhaust air emission regulations, which are anticipated to become more stringent in the future. Kotug, is interested to proactively explore suitable powering solutions, which can be applied at its Rotortugs’ newbuilding scheme, to comply with upcoming regulations of the intended port of operation. The goal of this thesis is to develop a decision-support tool to facilitate the selection process between alternative prime mover combinations, based on what is needed in terms of operation while considering technical challenges, environmental performance and economic returns. The effect of a variety of promising alternative fuels matched with suitable prime movers was investigated for the period 2018-2033, which was set as the study’s time horizon. LNG, Methanol, Biodiesel and DME were assessed as feasible solutions. The first two were associated with gas-burning engines, whereas the rest were associated with conventional 4-stroke compression ignition engines, similar to the ones already installed in the existing Rotortugs running on MGO. The environmental performance differs substantially to a conventional prime mover running on MGO. However, to adhere to future stricter regulations in certain sea areas, additional after-treatment systems are necessary. Research indicated three post-treatment solutions are the most effective in limiting the majority of the combustion-related emissions; Selective catalytic reduction, diesel particulate filter and oxidation catalysts. The total environmental fingerprint of a vessel can be however assessed only under the context of its propulsion configuration layout. The operational profile of a tugboat is highly variable, allowing room for the exploitation of different drivetrains than the traditional diesel-direct layout, which could lead in benefits mainly in terms of fuel efficiency and maintenance savings. Three drivetrains were selected; a diesel-electric and two hybrid, based on AC and DC topology. Before deciding to invest on a future boat a ship-owner is expected to be eager to comprehend the cost-related issues between alternatives. Moreover, the already proven design of the diesel-direct Rotortug, complemented by the necessary after-treatment technologies, makes sense to be the first option to consider, provided it complies with the anticipated regulations. This option is considered the baseline case. It is reasonable to compare all other options against the baseline case. To this end, a decision framework based on a techno-economic evaluation is proposed for supporting ship-owners to take informative decisions on investment considerations; Three objectives were set; economic performance, environmental performance and cost-effectiveness. To quantify economic performance a comparative TCO analysis was implemented, while for environmental performance the emission output of alternatives is compared. Last, cost-effectiveness adds valuable insight into how good money are allocated towards emission reduction targets and provides a methodology to compete for funding from a regulatory authority. Two case studies are presented that demonstrate the utility of these methods and enhance the understanding of the impact of decisive factors in decision-making. It is concluded that the proposed decision-support tool enables decision-support at an early-stage; nonetheless can still be improved, by incorporating additional factors and expanding certain modules with more details.

Maritime transport covers about 90%of world trade and is seen as one of the most cost-effective way of transporting goods. In order to safely accommodate vessels calling into ports, tugs are operated to assist various sized vessels with navigating, manoeuvring and berthing. Competition within the ship handling market has always been fierce. Boskalis Towage, through a network of joint ventures, offers harbour- and terminal towage services around the world, comprised of about 450 vessels. Operating a large fleet comes large Operating Expenses (OPEX). In order to deliver a more cost-effective service, Boskalis turns to business intelligence (BI) to help with the decision-making process. Maintenance is crucial for the operation of the vessels, but also a large part of the expenses. Large deviations in maintenance costs and operational performance exist between the joint ventures. However, the reasons behind these deviations are yet unclear due to the absence of continuous monitoring capabilities. The objective is therefore to increase the management capabilities of detailed performance monitoring of M&R expenses and performance of tugs, through which possible improvements can be determined. The M&R of tugs is influenced by various factors, such as utilisation, operational location and installed equipment. This research has evaluated the current Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) of Boskalis Towage and used literature on Maintenance Performance Management (MPM) in order to erect a multi-criteria hierarchical function-specific framework which is a framework for maintenance performance monitoring. The presented framework covers aspects of alignment with business objectives and plan, strategy and implementation. Moreover, the framework presents the maintenance function and its areas of performance measuring of equipment-, cost- and process performance across the organisational hierarchy. By performing a regression analysis of the maintenance data, this has also resulted in an increased understanding of the relationship between maintenance costs, operational data and vessel characteristics. As a result, an equation with acceptable statistical accuracy for running repairs has been found. The implementing of the MPM framework on the maintenance of tugs has resulted in the MPM model. This model focuses on the running repairs and dry docking direct costs and activities, incorporating basic maintenance types, i.e. Preventive Maintenance (PM) and Corrective Maintenance (CM). Running repairs have been evaluated in the time domain while the evaluation of dry dockings have been evaluated as events due to their relationship with regulatory surveys. The model incorporates operational-, maintenance- and financial data, tug specifications and operational conditions in order to evaluate maintenance performance. Maintenance Performance Indicators (MPIs) have been established to determine deviations and deficiencies among the different aspects of M&R. Challenges were faced on the aspects of data quality and data management, especially in the areas of maintenance process. The model has been validated through a detailed evaluation of five selected tugs. The underlying reasons for the underperformance of these tugs have been found and verified with knowledgable bodies and thus validating the model and its ability to determine underperformance and deviations. An alternative performance analysis method, Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), has been researched and shows promise. The Slack-Based Measure (SBM) DEA model is a non-parametric frontier approach, based on Linear Programming (LP), to evaluate performance based on slacks (room for improvement) of Decision Making Units (DMUs). The method is capable of determining similarities in inefficiency in maintenance performance, comparing it to results from the MPM model. It, therefore, proves the method is capable of quick evaluation of maintenance performance and of determining new maintenance targets. However, the model is simplistic and requires further detailing and is unable to determine underlying reasons for underperformance. The regression equation and DEA have been used to formulate a so-called performance region which describes the lower- and upper bounds of the running repair costs for individual tugs. Unfortunately, data quality doesn’t allow for the determining of these bounds for all vessels nor for dry docking. New key benchmarking targets have been established through quartile values for respective Maintenance Performance Indicators (MPIs). With this newly obtained knowledge, future maintenance performance evaluation of tugs can now be performed with a higher detail through analysis conducted with the developed MPM model.

Jumbo Maritime is a shipping company active in the heavy lifting market. Jumbo uses stabilisers to enlarge the stability of the ship during lifting. By using stabilisers Jumbo can perform heavy lifts with a relative small ship, this is one of the major advantages. Downside of using stabilisers is that the installation and de-installation is a time-consuming process. Besides that the usage also causes safety issues, more and more port authorities no longer approve the usage of stabilisers. Research is done in finding alternatives for the use of stabilisers, focusing on alternatives for new ships that need to be build. Looking at Jumbo’s position in the market shows the following unique selling points, for the J-type: • Limited draft compared to its competitors • Length < 150 meters On the one hand the usage of smart stabiliser to speed up the installation and de-installation of stabilisers is looked at. Because smart stabilisers are still stabilisers, also alternatives are analysed that do not require a stabiliser at all. By widening the ship, the ship can be stable enough to perform lifts without extra support from stabilisers. A model is created to be able to determine the required width for each concept. This model is generated based on the input and requirements set by literature, market analysis and Jumbo’s specifications. Some of these requirements are: limited dimensions, minimum required stability, anti heeling and deadweight. The four concepts that are created as input for the model are: • Base concept, concept 1..., Concept 2... Concept 3...Concept 4...: A case study is performed to be able to compare the concepts. Three cases are created, which are actual relevant cases for JumboMaritime: For each concept the costs are determined to sail the certain case. Because the heavy lift market consists of somany single jobs that differ a lot on weight, complexity and distance it is difficult to map the revenues. The costs are determined per job, to be able to compare the different concepts. Costs consists of the capital costs, fuel costs and operational related costs. Besides cost per job, also cost per ton/mile is calculated to determine the economical speed. For case 1 the economical speed is 14 knots, which is similar to the required design speed. This means that the ships sails most cost efficient at this speed. The time that is saved by eliminating the stabiliser is used to reduce the sailing speed. In this way the same amount of jobs can done in the same time. This research shows that the saved fuel consumption as a result of slower sailing can compensate the longer sailing time and increased resistance for a wider hull concept. Comparing the concepts in the different cases shows that concepts 3 and 4 are more beneficial in case the stabiliser usages goes up. It can be concluded that awider hull shape can operate at 2-5%lower costs. The fuel consumption of the V-shape decreases more significantly at lower drafts. It is an advantage at ballast sailing or during sailing light cargoes. Besides the lower costs, the increase of deck space for the wider concepts is added value in the heavy lift market. An other important advantage of the wider ship concepts is the elimination of safety issues because the usage of stabilisers is not needed any more to lift heavy cargoes safely.

In this thesis, it was examined how high-frequency operational data collected from an automated recording system, can be used to develop a vessel’s performance model. Both the traditional and the Machine Learning (ML) approach were examined. In the traditional approach, every component of the propulsion plant was examined separately, while empirical or semi-empirical methods were used for the added resistance due to waves, wind and shallow water. Historical data were used for verification and tuning (where needed) during the development of the model. In the Machine Learning approach, the method of Support Vector Machines was used. Also, it was examined whether a vessel’s performance model can be developed by combining the methods mentioned above. Thus, in total four models were developed. The data regarding the last year of operation of the vessel Schippersgracht were used (45000 data points) to test the models. It was found that with all the four models, 80 % of the examined dataset was calculated with an error of less than 10 %. The daily fuel consumption was calculated for the same dataset and for 90% of the days examined, the daily fuel consumption was calculated with an error of less than 10 %. The main conclusions about the developed performance models is that all the models resulted in more less the same accuracy. The model based on the traditional approach has the advantage that it offers more information and more outputs can be taken, compared to the ML approach which only provides the output of the fuel consumption. On the other hand, the model based on the ML approach is significantly faster and allows many iterations to be performed in a short time. Regarding the models which were developed by combining the approaches mentioned above, they did not result in additional advantages. Finally, two case studies were performed. In the first case study, it was presented how the model, developed following the traditional approach, can be used to examine how modifications in the propulsion system will influence the vessel’s fuel consumption. The case of switching from fixed rpm (that is currently used) to a variable rpm system was examined, which is a real scenario that the company is considering. It was calculated that installing the variable rpm system and a frequency converter will result in annual savings of around 250,000 € while the investment’s payback time is estimated to be around two years. In the second case study, a future voyage simulation algorithm was developed. This algorithm receives as inputs the voyage plan(route and speed) and performs a calculation for the voyage’s fuel consumption by taking into account the weather predictions. The voyage simulation algorithm is making use of the ML model. A few cases were examined in order to examine how many days in advance the calculation is reliable (due to the uncertainty of the weather predictions) and about the time interval that should be used in the algorithm. However, clear conclusions were not derived, and further examination is suggested(by examining more voyages).

The data-driven decision support system gives a competitive advantage by the cost-effective improvement of the fleet’s energy efficiency and by the controlled compliance with the IMO Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy. The conceptual Business Intelligence Design provides the foundation for data-driven decision support about energy efficiency for the entire Offshore Energy fleet. Boskalis Long Distance Towage department can cost-effectively improve their energy efficiency by 40% toward 2030 with respect to 2008 and thereby fully comply with the outlines of the IMO Greenhouse Gas Reduction Strategy. Boskalis offshore energy is recommanded to implement a Data-driven Decision Support System to manage the cost-effective energy efficiency improvement and the reduction of carbon emission. The organisational awareness and willingness to improve is a prerequisition for successful implementation.

In 20 years, from 1996 to 2016, global cumulative container port throughput had an average annual growth rate of 6.3%. Furthermore, the average global transshipment incidence increased from 11% in 1980 to a stable 27% in 2017. This change in transshipment market dynamics has led to opportunities for potential port investments or disinvestments. In this research, a tool is developed for Royal HaskoningDHV that improves transshipment forecasts. The developed tool calculates the optimal ports for transshipment, transshipment throughput volumes, fleet utilization, and optimal cost routes. This is done by means of minimizing the total transport costs, while meeting container demand requirements and port and vessel constraints. The most statistically significant factors affecting transshipment volumes are incorporated in the tool. By modifying input parameters, the tool facilitates calculations of optimal cost future transshipment port throughput volumes. This could provide key insights in lucrative port investment or disinvestment opportunities.

Ballast water, routinely taken on by ships for stability and structural integrity can contain thousands of mi- crobes, algae and animals. When discharging this ballast water holding these organisms in a non-native ecosystem, new invasive aquatic species can be introduced. This can have to devastating consequences for the local ecosystem. To prevent further disruption of different ecosystems across the globe, the Ballast Water Management Convention (BWM) was adopted by the IMO in 2004. NIBC has a wide portfolio of vessels which will have to comply with the IMO BWM convention. However, the possible solutions and the actual impact of this regulation is still unknown to the bank. Ship owners expect a significant impact on the shipping industry and it is suggested that a lot of vessels will have to be scrapped due to the high investment cost. This research is conducted for ship owners and banks and will reveal the actual impact of the BWM convention. This is realised by calculating the impact on the internal rate of return (IRR) for each specific vessel. It provides the bank with a tool to monitor what effect the BWM convention will have on their clients. In addition, the tool is able to identify high risk vessels with an internal rate of return below 9%.

There is a significant historical link between maritime trade and economic activity. With the rapid growth of containerised trade over the past 60 years, a significant share of global trade is transported by container nowadays. This suggests there is a connection between container flows and economic activity. There is also a time delay between containers with goods being imported and the announcement of quarterly Gross Domestic Product numbers. With US container imports and exports being publicly available information, this leads to the research question of this thesis: Can loaded and/or empty container flows be used to predict economic activity?” If so, this could prove to be valuable information for economists, policy makers and, as this thesis highlights, professional traders working at investment banks or hedge funds. This thesis focusses on analysing transpacific containerised trade as a potential so-called forward indicator of US GDP. To measure these transpacific flows, an aggregate of US West coast port data is produced and de-seasonalised. The container flows are separated into Loaded In, Empty Out and Loaded Out flows. It is important to understand the dynamics of container trade and the variables influencing it on this route. Variables are identified that could possibly affect the supply-side of container shipping and therefore the transpacific container flows (the demand-side is seen as an expression of economic activity). After analysing the Cross Correlation Functions (CCF) of the identified, data based influencing variables, five different GDP growth prediction models are constructed. This is done by performing OLS single and multivariate regressions of the individual container flows (together with the influencing variables) on historical GDP growth data from 2000 to 2017. The resulting models are tested against an existing, commonly used forward indicator: the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI). The results show that three models, all using a form of loaded containers, outperform the PMI when predicting the direction of US GDP growth 3-months ahead over the 17-year time period of the dataset used. The probability of large prediction errors with these models are also smaller than the PMI benchmark model.

Developments in the field of renewable energy technologies have lead to low energy cost in areas with specific characteristics. In the Middle East solar power plants are built for prices around 3 cent per kilowatt-hour and bids below 3 cent have been placed. In Europe wind energy is the second largest source of renewable energy after biomass. Although, wind farms are being built without subsidy the total cost of a wind farm is much higher in the order of 14 cent per kWh and it can decrease to 10 cent by 2030. In this research an concept study for the transport of electric energy is made to find an answer to the question: “is it possible to ship electric energy which is delivered in a port between areas of generation and consumption over a fixed distance with the use of a ship and deliver it for a levelised cost of electricity (LCoE) which is competitive in the market of unloading.” The cost of a kilowatt-hour of electric energy in the Dutch market is 8.33 if it is produced by a modern gas fired power plant and if the cost for CO2 emissions are included according to the current prices in the European emission trading scheme. If higher carbon cost scenario's are applied the price could increase to prices over 17 cent per kilowatt-hour. The concepts in this study are tested against four different carbon emission cost scenario's ranging from 8 euro/tCO2 to 190 euro/tCO2 Most electrical energy is transported by electric energy power grids. For long distance high volume energy transmission a high voltage direct current energy cable is the most efficient way to transport energy but at larger distances the transmission system gets more expensive. In this research the electric cable is used as a reference case which the concept has to outperform. To test the concepts a non-linear model is made which is solved with Matlab-integrated solvers to find the optimal transport concept. The model works by optimising the main dimensions of the ship. With this optimal ship design concepts are analysed. For this research: a concept based on a hydrogen-carrier (ammonia) and a concept based on thermal energy storage are discussed. . The hydrogen-carrier concept uses ammonia as a carrier. Ammonia has a high energy content and can be produced with the Haber Bosch process or with Solid State Ammonia Synthesis (SSAS). If the energy is produced using the well known Haber-Bosch process in 2018 the levelised cost of energy is 21.2 and 24.2 cent per kilowatt hour depending on the distance. Developments in the field of electrolysers will reduce the capital investment which can reduce the price to 17.8 to 20.8 cent per kilowatt hour by 2025 if the energy is supplied at 2 cent per kilowatt hour to the ammonia production facility. The SSAS method offers higher energy effincies at lower capital investment cost. The LCOE calculated in this research is 11.4 to 16.4 cent per kilowatt-hour. The thermal energy storage concept is based on molten salt. Molten salt is being used in concentrated solar power plants as a storage of energy. In the concept used in this project the molten salt is transported to another part where the heat which is stored in the salt is used to generate electricity. The LCoE is already 28.5 cent per kilowatt-hour at a distance of 1,000 nm. The thermal energy storage concept is more expensive than the ammonia concept. Depending on the distance and the carbon cost scenario's the concept can be competitive to the fixed connection with a cable and fossil fired power plants in the home market. If the low cost carbon scenario's (1 and 2) are applied by law makers the concept of electrical energy by sea is not competitive but if politicians would decide to increase the cost for carbon emissions the transport could become competitive. When the carbon emission cost increase to values over 100 euro/tCO2 the SSAS concept is competitive for distance up to 2,000 nm but it still more expensive than a cable connection. For this distances larger than 4,000 nm and carbon prices according to the 4th scenario (190 euro/tCO2) the SSAS-based concept can be a competitive energy supplier.

Wing-in-ground (hereafter referred to as WIG) vehicles operate a few meters above water. The vehicles make use of the ground-effect (an effect where the drag is reduced, and the wings of the vehicles generate an increased lift). The unique speed and distance range of a WIG vehicle — a vehicle that, in functionality and appearance, sits somewhere between a ship and an aircraft — could be an ideal option for high-speed passenger transport on routes with ‘medium’ distances. That said, WIG vehicles have hardly ever been seen in civilian applications, such as high-speed passenger transport. This report answers the question: can WIG vehicles operating as high-speed passenger ferries, be feasible and profitable? This feasibility is assessed on the basis of literature research and real examples of WIG performance, functionality and profitability. Suitable routes and vehicles are selected based on criteria analyses. Using financial estimations, the profitability of two suitable WIG vehicles on two separate routes is investigated.The specifications of recently built WIG vehicles and their design drivers are analyzed by performing a literature research. This information reveals that WIG vehicles have one main limitation: a low seaworthiness. It is then likely that this limits the seakeeping operability for a number of vehicles. To deal with this limitation, suitable vehicles are selected using a criteria analysis. The literature research shows that the WSH-500 and the Aron M80 both have a relatively good seaworthiness. The vehicles differentiate in size (48p & 6p). The costs of the vehicles are estimated by using general aviation cost estimation theory. A criteria analysis based on seakeeping operability and number of passengers and distance, shows two suitable routes: ‘Buenos Aires – Montevideo’ and ‘Helsinki – Tallinn’. The potential demand for WIG transport on these routes is estimated by creating demand curves of transport. The strategy to market WIG transport on these routes is estimated by using a market research to gage the potential demand. A suitable strategy is to target the top niche of customers on these routes. The profitability is estimated by combining the suitable vehicles, cost of vehicles, routes and strategy. The net present value and internal rate of return is calculated for a number of cases that are explained in this paper. The cases vary mainly on the following aspects: vehicle, total investment and route. In conclusion, WIG vehicles operating as high-speed passenger ferries can be feasible and profitable. The technology behind WIG vehicles has a technological readiness level of 8 out of 9. There are multiple, full-scale prototypes made and tested. Suitable vessels and routes have been selected to deal with the primary limitation that comes with WIG vehicles; they have low seaworthiness capabilities. The seakeeping operability rates of the selected vehicles and routes range between 91% and 100%. The net present value (NPV) and internal rate of return (IRR) of investments made in a WIG transport company can be positive in a number of cases.

The aviation Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) industry faces an enormous growth due to the increasing air traffic. To accommodate this growth and increase efficiencies of processes it is required to increase the transparency of demand in the Supply Chain (SC). Research into predicting demand in the MRO industry have mainly been focused on the spare part request (forward logistics). This results in a research gap regarding increasing transparency in the reverse SC. This paper investigates an approach to increase transparency in demand by prediction the arrival times of shipments in the reverse SC based on transport times. The transport times from two customers have been collected and analysed. The analysis showed the presence of different transport behaviour depending on the process which included inefficiencies and waste. Based on the analyses different methods to predict the transport time have been formulated and evaluated. The results show two methods superior to the others which are the median and decision tree. Furthermore, the research indicates the accuracy of predictions increases with more available data and stable processes. The results show to be insufficient to accurately predict the majority of the shipments and therefore require further research.

This study aims to develop a decision support tool which enables shipowners to select the most appropriate alternative fuel technology to comply with possible different imposed emission regulations while ensuring optimal business performance. In this context, most appropriate is defined as a fuel alternative which minimises required freight rate (RFR) while maximising overall performance on technological, environmental and other criteria. A decision support tool was devised combining a decision model based on the simple multi-attribute rating technique (SMART) with a financial model based on discounted cash-flow (DCF). Additionally, an optimisation model was implemented to optimise for minimal required freight rate through slow steaming. The decision tool provides shipowners with a quantified impact on their current business if they do not transition to alternative fuels under a 'market based measure' (MBM) regulatory scenario, as well as best-alternatives if their current fuels do not meet regulations under an 'emission cap' (EC) scenario. The decision tool is evaluated under optimistic, average and pessimistic scenarios in 2020, 2030 and 2050. Under an emission cap scenario, the results showed an overall preference for Fischer-Tropsch diesel (FTD) as the most promising alternative maritime fuel both in terms of SMART performance and required freight rate, followed by upgraded bio-oil (UBO). Nevertheless, the average difference in required freight rate of alternative fuels compared to HFO remains substantial, at 43% and 38% higher for Fischer-Tropsch diesel under a 'no regulation' scenario and 'market based measures' scenario, respectively. It is therefore evident that without regulatory intervention, heavy fuel oil is expected to retain dominance based on cost. Even under a market based measure (MBM) scenario, the average required freight rate of HFO increases only by 3.4% overall. For LNG, market-based measures lead to an average increase in RFR of 4.1%. These results suggest that in order for the maritime industry to transition towards sustainable alternative fuels, policymakers, governments, international organisations and lenders need to align their policies to collectively enable a more sustainable shipping industry - not only by enforcing stricter regulations, but also by providing the correct financial incentives.

Setting up or dismantling a shiprepair yard requires vast amounts of time and resources. Current shiprepair yards are land-based facilities that can not be moved when demand for their services declines. A mobile shiprepair facility would be able to and Damen Shiprepair & Conversion (DS&C) expressed interest to investigate the potential of a mobile shiprepair unit. When executed correctly, such a facility may reduce total repair time and thereby increase vessel availability through a higher shiprepair efficiency and reduction of travel time to the repair yard. The resulting competitive advantage can lead to profit maximization of DS&C.The goal of this thesis is to develop recommendations for DS&C regarding the feasibility of a mobile shiprepair facility. No facility of this kind exists to date, therefore the first step is to determine preliminary design features. The target market will be the mandatory intermediate and special surveys that a vessel is obliged to undergo every two and a half and five years respectively, requiring the vessels to undergo underwater investigations. A design feature following from that is the ability to haul vessels out of the water. The concept should moreover be sea-going, easy to (re)deploy and contain an all-round workshop and warehousing capabilities.Subsequently, the costs and projected revenues of the concept are identified and combined in a financial model. The cost items which differentiate a mobile yard from a traditional land-based shiprepair yard are: direct labour cost, machinery & installations cost, housing cost and travel expenses. Revenue results from shiprepair services and includes the quantified competitive advantage. The feasibility of a mobile shiprepair facility is then further evaluated in two case studies: the Caribbean sea and the west-coast of the African continent. The target market in the Caribbean are Supramax/Handymax size vessels and the target market in west-Africa is the support vessels for the offshore oil and gas sector. Both case studies evaluate a semi-submersible non-propelled facility that operates in a sheltered location.The Caribbean is the only area of the two case studies that shows potential. This can be explained by a higher efficiency and hence more projects that can be executed per year. Moreover, the same services can be sold for a higher price than on the west-coast of Africa. Several scenarios were identified in which the concept can be feasible on an annual base. However, the likeliness that these conditions persist during the projects lifetime is considered low and thus it is not recommended to deploy a mobile shiprepair facility in this area. Regarding the west-coast of Africa case study, even under the most favourable conditions - a very high occupational rate and an increase in target market conditions - it is not recommended to deploy a mobile shiprepair facility.It has been concluded using a stochastic sensitivity analysis that the duration of the maintenance project largely determines feasibility. The sensitivity to the fuel price, day rates of future clients and the reduction in deviation days were studied as well. All three were found not to be of large influence for the determination of feasibility, although it had been suspected differently for the last two. It has been found that the added value of the concept can not be transformed enough into a competitive advantage.If a change in conditions justifies the further development of this concept, this report provides several design criteria. Subsequently, recommendations are made on the design of a tool for the maximization of the reduction in deviation time of future clients to enhance the potential of the concept.

Harsh market conditions make optimising the performance in shipping more and more important. Shipping companies are becoming more and more data driven due to developments in data systems and these harsh market conditions. The goal of this research is to determine how and how much added value can be realised through shipping performance management with the help of a ship performance monitoring system within Spliethoff Group. This research continues after the development of the performance monitoring system. The demand or this research arrived from the fact that simply putting a performance monitoring system in place does not realise added value. Applying the knowledge creation from the performance monitoring system through well structured performance management is what realises the added value. Determining the methods and quantifying the potential results is what is done to realise the goal of this research. During the research it is found that high data quality is of the utmost importance in order to accurately asses the performance of a vessel. A structured method for assessing the data collected by the performance monitoring is found and applied to the performance monitoring system as a verification. Data quality deficits such as the speed of the ETL processes, incorrect data blending and calculations are identified and corrected. This led to a near live, high quality data stream which can be used to asses and optimise the performance. Continual assessment and improvement of the data quality is recommended. Suitable methods to analyse this data to create knowledge are determined. A form of hybrid modelling where simple theoretical models are fitted to the filtered data using regression is used to create baselines and give a clear overview of the effects of certain operational parameters on the performance of a vessel. These models can then also be used to increase the accuracy of tools such as the weather routing and voyage planning tool. Benchmarking between sister vessels or the baselines is seen as a good means to identify performance deficits. Visualising and analysing the data with the help of a BI tools is a good way to share the knowledge throughout the company. The performance management in place at Spliethoff is assessed to form a baseline to improve upon. It became apparent that Spliethoff overall has a good idea how to optimise performance but it does not have the information or data needed to do so. Since there is no information about the gain in performance of certain tools they are not used correctly. Being able to show the performance gain from using these tools is an important benefit of the performance monitoring system. The communication and knowledge sharing throughout the company can also be improved with the use of the performance monitoring system. Poor follow up from upper management when performance deficits on top of this indicate that a lot of value can be created with an improved performance management plan which incorporates the performance monitoring system. A new performance management plan based on ISO 50001 is proposed to realise this value. Due to the available data the management plan focuses on reducing fuel costs and optimising voyage planning.This is done by awareness creation through performance dashboards which also increase the information sharing between shore and vessel. A change in company culture to a more data based decision making and communicative culture is promoted and implemented through this plan. To determine how much added value can be realised, the costs and value realisation potentials of the performance management system are specified. These are then used to determine the net present value of the performance management project for several scenarios. A large fleet and a small fleet implementation are researched. The total capital investment is either €543,000 when only the large consumers of the fleet are included (small fleet) or €1,310,000 when almost the entire fleet is included (large fleet). Only the direct monetary value is used to determine the net present value but indirect and non monetary values are also mentioned. The direct monetary value potentials are derived from operational cases where performance deficits have been identified. The resulting total added value (NPV) of the small fleet implementation ranges from €2,165,970 in a pessimistic scenario to €8,711,272 in an optimistic scenario after 11 years. €6,000,146 is the expected total added value realisation for the small fleet implementation after 11 years. For the large fleet the results are: €4,966,756 for the pessimistic scenario, €18,103,704 for the optimistic scenario and and expected added value of €12,805,994 after 12 years. Most scenarios have a pay back period of less than 2 years with the exception of the pessimistic scenario of the large fleet which has less than 3 years. All indirect and non monetary value is seen as a bonus on top of this meaning that there certainly is a lot of added value to be realised by implementing performance management which is supported by a performance monitoring system.

The growing pressure on tank storage terminals is pushing the terminals to find ways to accommodate more vessels by increasing the efficiency of the vessel handling process. This research looks at the possibility of implementing forward planning at such a terminal by simulating multiple strategies and testing the impact on the seaside performance of the terminal. The current process is a reactive one due to the first come first serve rule that is enforced. This causes an unpredictable arrival distribution of vessels and a low level of information and collaboration. The simulation results are promising and show that a proactive planning strategy could drastically increase terminal seaside performance by allowing the terminal to control vessel arrival distributions and preventing certain interrupts that often occur within the process. In the best case, the terminal seaside performance increased from the current state performance of 55% to 92%.

Economies are rapidly growing. Production and consumption rates are higher than ever before. And the disposal rates are increasing with it, with the absence of any waste infrastructure that can suffice. Global pollution has turned into one of today’s biggest threats for the environment, wild life, and humans. This thesis is specifically focussed on the case of plastic reaching the oceans, and how to turn this problem into value. A methodology has been developed to quantify the feasibility and effectiveness of plastic recovery solutions from oceans, rivers and waterways. It was quickly found that no source has been able to capture the totality of the problem of ocean pollution yet. When looking into feasible and effective solutions, the connection between today’s status of the problem, the potential barriers, and an investigation of its impact proved to be absolutely crucial. For this specific purpose, several models were developed, including a bow-tie model, the Strategic Solution Space (a summary of essential qualitative factors when designing for high impact), and a trajectory study as a foundation for research. These all combined supported the development of a methodology for assessing plastic recovery solutions; incorporated in this approach are a high level technology screening, a qualitative judgement of benefits, and two case studies of the most favourable concepts. Eventually, turning the problem into value is embodied by guidance in design of recovery solutions, identification of the most important parameters and its relations, a description of the willingness-to-pay, and lastly, recommending the greatest needs in scientific research. Altogether, the combined value presents the ultimate incentive to act.

Due to the increased social importance and regulations on shipping emissions, effort must be made by shipowners, operators and naval architects to reduce the amount of air emissions from ships. A large set of emission control methods exists, but compatibility and interaction issues complicate their implementation. This thesis contains a decision-making method tailor-made to the case of Seatrade. The decision-making method makes a cost comparison of different emission compliance methods for an arbitrarily ship, making use of the NPV. Case studies are performed to get an indication of the promising emission compliance methods for the Seatrade fleet.

Small scale inland shipping, especially in the case of transported containers, is used only marginally compared to its capacity. The small inland waterways have abundant capacity to accommodate up to 700 percent more transport. On the other hand, road based container transport is cause for external damages in the form of congestion, emissions and accidents. All that are of course unwanted. To reduce the overall external damage (monetized into cost) for container distribution a modeshift from truck to small scale inland vessel is worth promoting. This thesis researched the feasibility of designing radically renewing small scale container distribution concepts for both vessel and inland terminal. A scalable container carrier concept series is designed and tested for feasibility. Goal of the concept vessel was to design a dedicated series around its cargo, the container. Existing inland vessels of smaller dimensions have holds of suboptimal dimensions, resulting is excess cost. In parallel with the vessel series a scalable container terminal concept has been designed and tested. Goals for the terminal was autonomous operation and low cost per move as existing terminal fail to operate on competitive cost levels for low volumes. The results showed outperformance of competitor alternatives and economic feasibility for both concepts. Results of a case study show the possibility to ship and transship containers to more local, rural terminals at competitive costs levels. Meaning substantially below the costs of existing competition. In addition is the local terminal allocation leading to penetration of the inland waterway network’s capillaries. As a result, shorter pre- and post-haulage operations by truck are required. This increase in sailing distance share and decrease in haulage distance reduces the overall external cost of transport for those specific containers.

To plot the roadmap for the oil & gas sector, it is essential to do the market demand analysis and research the influencing mechanism of oil price on the offshore projects market and offshore equipment market. The equipment market of IHC IQIP is primarily the market of offshore structures installation. This project is combing the technology research and the market research of offshore installation equipment.