An Expected Utility-Based Optimization of Slow Steaming in Sulphur Emission Control Areas by Applying Big Data Analytics

This paper analyses the operator's risk-based decision (RBD) company for slow steaming, and creates a sailing speed optimization model for slow steaming (SSOM-SS), aiming to balance the expected utility-based objectives (EUO) of fuel consumption, SOx emissions and delivery delay. Considering the limitations of existing theoretical fuel consumption functions under uncertainties in voyages, the authors applies big data analytics (BDA) techniques like data fusion and feature selection to provide the SSOM-SS with accurate and suitable data on fuel consumption. In addition, a solver is built based on the genetic algorithm (GA) to solve the SSOM-SS. The effectiveness of the SSOM-SS is verified through a case study on the RBD for slow steaming of an Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) containership sailing across the sulphur emission control areas (SECAs) in Chinese coastal regions. The results show that the SSOM-SS can facilitate the RBD for slow steaming, and provide a novel tool for sailing speed optimization.