Internal contact person: Haiying Jia

Partners:

(among others)

The CLIMATE FUTURES - SMART SHIPPING is a research node under the SFI CENTER of Climate Futures. The goal is to ingest improved climate forecasts beyond the next few days into planning and risk management solutions in shipping companies. Better S2S (from two weeks to two months) weather forecasts and climate risk assessments will contribute to reducing fuel costs and emissions through smarter voyage planning, better chartering decisions through more accurate cost estimates, and better fleet allocation in anticipation of weather events and climate-driven demand variations.

The availability of high quality near-future weather predictions, combined with the use of data-driven models and machine learning, enables us to push the research frontier a step further in this area. Other research topics such as the relationship between seaborne transport demand and climate risk is completely new. The centre will generate new knowledge by developing models that can properly account for the stochastic nature of weather and climate scenarios in optimizing technical and commercial management of shipping fleets, insurance contracts, fish-farming operations, and more.

The project is supported by the Research Council of Norway (total of 200 million NOK for SFI center and the SMART SHIPPING node receives 12.9 million NOK).

Responsible: Stein W. Wallace

The population density in city centres increases. At the same time, internet purchases grow substantially. As a result, the amount of freight that needs to go into the city centres, in particular the number of packages that needs to be delivered, may increase substantially. This can lead to a serious increase in transport activities, which are carried out by a large number of smaller transportation companies, and thereby higher energy consumption, more area usage, emissions, dust and noise.

This is contrary to the ideas of sustainable cities. However, authorities, particularly the cities themselves, can counter many of the negative effects through different regulations and measures. However, most Norwegian cities are old and topologically complicated, and it is therefore not easy to foresee exactly how a certain regulation will function. In addition, cities need to take into account existing legal frameworks, public opinion and response from businesses.

Our major research question is: how can freight transportation be organized in a smart sustainable small city to reduce energy and space use? The primary objective is to provide public authorities in smaller, topologically complicated, cities and initially the City of Bergen, with a toolbox for realistically planning for a city that is energy efficient and sustainable in terms of freight transportation. We use mathematical planning models to mimic the actions of transportation companies, and we focus on regulations with respect to energy efficiency, legality and acceptability.

The project runs 2020-25, and is in cooperation with  Centre for Climate and Energy Transformation (CET) at the University of Bergen, The City of Bergen, Vestland County, Bergen Chamber of Industry and Commerce, The Norwegian Road Authorities, Nordic Edge and Agenda Vestlandet. It is supported by the partners plus NOK 10 million from the Research Council of Norway.

Responsible: Stein W. Wallace

The project focuses on sustainability by studying transportation and logistics in the light of energy markets and green finance. In our view, it is not enough to study sustainability purely in the transportation sector. We need to see it in light of how energy markets are organized and operate, and how investors view green investments.

In this projects we will enhance our international portfolio of contacts and activities in this core part of sustainability research by organizing PhD courses, organizing meetings and developing projects for later use, particularly in EU projects.

The project runs 2020-23, and is funded by The Research Council of Norway (1.6 million NOK).

Internal contact person: Haiying Jia

Partners:

The SHIPTRACK project is a co-operation between shipping researchers at NHH/SNF, satellite data experts at the UiT Arctic University at Narvik, remote sensing startup VAKE.ai, shipping companies Utkilen and Western Bulk, and the Bergen Shipowners' Association. The project is highly interdisciplinary and aims to develop new knowledge from fusing satellite (optical and radar) and AIS data.

The project intends to develop novel methods for the automated tracking of ships (during gaps or faulty AIS transmissions) and the extraction of metadata such as speed and loading condition from optical satellite data. Combined with new methods for the classification of commodity types and monitoring of stored volumes (both liquid and dry bulk) using remote sensing, this creates a very powerful tool for increasing visibility in the commodity supply chains and bulk freight markets.

In terms of impacts, the project results contribute to better spatial resource allocation for bulk commodities, for instance by reducing uncertainty in restocking decisions, demand estimates and transportation planning. Improved ship tracking also facilitates safer and more efficient transportation and the prevention of potential of illegal and harmful activities.

The project is supported by the Research Council of Norway (16.1 million NOK).

Internal contact person: Gunnar Eskeland

CenSES - Centre for Sustainable Energy Studies - is a national research centre for environment-friendly energy research (FME) contributing to an improved knowledge base to promote a more environment-friendly energy system. The Centre is funded by the Norwegian Research Council and industry partners.

Research associated with the Center for Shipping and Logistics are in the areas of shipping economics and urban transport, with researchers Lisa Maria Assmann, Jonas Andersson, Gunnar S. Eskeland and Haakon Lindstad. The main research partners of NHH/SNF in CenSES are NTNU and SINTEF, and key industry partners are energy companies such as BKK, Statkraft and Statnett.

Responsible: Mario Guajardo

Securing food supply in a cost-efficient and sustainable manner is one of the main challenges of current societies. The primary objective of the OPTINORFARM project is to develop optimization models and methods for decision support to Norwegian cattle farmers, taking into account both economic and environmental criteria.

The project timeline spans from 2023 until 2026, and it is in collaboration with partners TINE SA, Nortura SA, NLR, NIBIO, NMBU, and NORSUS. The project is supported by the partners plus NOK 10.8 million from the Research Council of Norway, through its funding of Collaborative Projects to Meet Societal and Industry-related Challenges.

Internal contact person: Stein W. Wallace

Partners:

AutoLog is funded under the MAROFF programme of the Research Council of Norway (NOK 9.7 million).

AutoLog aims at identifying and analysing opportunities created by autonomous vessels in the delivery of services. In our analysis, we combine tools from logistics, economics, and digital technology. In particular, AutoLog focuses on new opportunities in three areas: flexible lane design and scheduling, emergency medical services (EMS), and economics of deep-sea cargo shipping.

Responsible: Haiying Jia

SmartDigital builds knowledge on how charterparties can be adapted to increase energy efficiency and function with optimized commercial management in a digital system. It contributes to the digital transformation of the maritime industry in the following areas: contractual structures that promote energy efficient and digitalized ship operations, digital tools for optimized commercial ship management, and the development of smart contracts that integrates the two in a fully digital system. 

SmartDigital is a joint project with of SNF/NHH, MIT Center for Transport and Logistics, University College of London Energy Institute, and Kedge Business School in France. In addition, the project draws on the professional expertise and international reach of industry partners BIMCO (Baltic and International Martime Council), Bergen Shipowners Association and Norway’s largest law firm Wikborg Rein.

The Research Council granted NOK 12.6million for 2018-2022.

Internal contact person: Roar Os Ådland

Partners:

REEalSea was a joint project between SNF/NHH and Nanyang Technological University and funded by industry partners, the MAROFF programme of the Research Council of Norway and Singapore Maritime Institute (total NOK 12.6 million).

The objective of the project was to develop a framework for the modelling of uncertainty in ship speeds, fuel consumption and emissions and, on this basis, to develop applications for the optimization of operational decisions in order to improve energy efficiency and profitability and reduce the maritime industry’s environmental footprint.

Internal contact person: Stein W. Wallace

Partner:

DOUBLE PHD-DEGREE IN LOGISTICS WITH JIAO TONG IN SHANGHAI

The purpose of this 2-year project was to prepare the ground for a double PhD-degree in logistics between the two schools. It included exchange of faculty and staff.

The project was funded (NOK 300.000) by Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SIU), now HKDIR, as part of their “UTFORSK” program. Ran 2018-19.

Internal contact person: Stein W. Wallace

Partners:

The purpose of this 2-year project was to set up a PhD course in rural logistics plus exchange a few graduate students between Montreal and Norway. The course is now part of the study program at NHH as well as UQAM, and has run both places with support from the grant. 

The project was funded (NOK 300.000) by Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education (SIU), now DIKU, as part of their “High North” program. Ran 2017-18.

Internal contact person: Siri Pettersen Strandenes

Partners:

Since the introduction of the AIS (Automated Identification System) in 2004/05 we have seen a dramatic increase in the information flow from terrestrial and satellite-based receivers about the location and itineraries of the world fleet. AIS messages include real-time information on the coordinates and speed of ships, as well as information on draught, the next port of call and estimated time of arrival.

The value of proper utilisation of this information is huge - for instance in the context of optimization of ship operations, chartering and transport planning - yet our advancement of knowledge in this area has met substantial R&D challenges.

This is in part due to the huge amounts of high-frequency data received, requiring fast and scalable IT solutions, but mainly due to inconsistent quality and data coverage requiring advanced algorithms for interpolation of positions and extrapolation of future itineraries.  In addition, ascertaining key issues such as cargo type and size remains an art rather than a science, particularly for the smaller vessel sizes.

CARGOMAP is an interdisciplinary project that connects the AIS expertise at CMR Computing with shipping economics expertise at the Norwegian School of Economics (SNF/NHH).

The objective of CARGOMAP is to verify the quality and limitations of AIS data as a basis for national transport planning and to develop solutions for extracting information from AIS data that will enable better seaborne transportation planning and a transfer of goods from land to sea within Norwegian territorial waters.

This involves firstly assessing AIS data quality and geographical coverage and, secondly, to use AIS data in two case studies – one that will assess the impact of environmental regulations on transport costs by comparing vessel behaviour within and outside the low-sulphur-fuel area in the North Sea, and one that looks at port connectivity and trade flows within Norwegian territorial waters.

CARGOMAP is a Researcher Project funded by the Norwegian Research Council (NOK 6 million) for the two-year period September 2014 through August 2016.

Internal contact person: Roar Os Ådland

Partners:

The future winners in the international shipping industry will have a strong focus on energy efficiency and environmentally friendly solutions. In this context it is not sufficient to focus on technology development for technology's sake.

Focus must be on solutions that are commercially viable and therefore will be implemented by the industry. It is also important to utilise existing fleets and technology in a more energy-efficient manner at all levels of ship operation, for instance through better choices of speed and routing, better coordination and scheduling in ports, and a more efficient fleet management system.

The project "Green shipping under uncertainty" is a co-operation between Norway's two leading research centres within maritime technology, logistics and economics - NTNU/MARINTEK and the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) - that deal with these important questions.

A key research area is the development of improved models that can describe the future uncertainty in freight rates, fuel prices, technological development and regulations. These models are used to develop decision-support systems that can assist shipowners and operators in both short-term operational optimisation and strategic choices regarding fleet structure.

The key to a faster transition to a greener maritime industry is to handle both horizons in a framework where both technology and economics play key roles, and where uncertainty is handled in the best manner possible.

The project's industry partners - Odfjell SE, Western Bulk and Bergen Shipowners' Association - represent both international tramp and industrial shipping. Their knowledge and knowhow ensure the development of tools and models of practical relevance and use.

Green Shipping under Uncertainty is a four-year project (2014 – 2017) and funded by the Norwegian Research Council (NOK 10 m) and our industry partners Odfjell and Western Bulk.

Internal contact person: Stein W. Wallace

Partner:

Based on earlier joint work we study stochastic network design with an emphasis on cases where vehicles can be rerouted in real-time.

Funded by the Chinese Research Council (600.000 RMB ~ NOK 750000) for three years, starting January 2015.

Internal contact person: Stein W. Wallace

Partners:

The main issue here is to understand the relationship between lean production and flexibility as understood in stochastic programming. We mainly play an advisory role on the stochastics side.

Funded by the Norwegian Research Council under SINTEF, Trondheim.

Internal contact person: Gunnar Eskeland

Hybrid and other configurations for environmentally friendly transport is a MARINTEK (SINTEF) centered project funded by the Norwegian Research Council and industry partners. SNF’s researcher is Gunnar S. Eskeland. An important idea is to shift the emphasis in ship design and policy from idealized towards realistic usage conditions for the vessel. Typically, engines and vessels consume and pollute ‘too much’ when under very high or low loads. This observation alone lends value to configurations with several engines and combining combustion engines with electric and battery solutions.  These solutions also allow better responses to combinations of challenges, such as local environmental problems and global climate change.