Optimizing bunkering and speed for dry bulk carriers considering biofuel storage period limitation

Eco-friendly vessels, such as biofuel vessels and LNG vessels, have been developed as one of the measures to address emission reductions in the shipping industry. However, as there are limited ports offering biofuel refueling service, ships may need to bypass biofuel refueling ports for fuel refueling. Considering the limitation of biofuel storage period and the fuel consumption in the handling operation before biofuel refueling, ship operators need to reduce the impacts through strategies like speed adjustment, choice of fuel refueling ports. In this paper, we investigate the bunkering and speed optimization problem for dry bulk carriers considering biofuel storage period limitation. A mixed-integer linear programming model is developed for these characteristics of biofuel vessels. We conduct a case study based on a real-world dry bulk cargo route to verify the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed mathematical model. The computational results show that: biofuel dry bulk carriers can reduce the impact of the biofuel storage period limitation and bypassing biofuel refueling ports through the adjustment of sailing speed and bunkering ports. Ship operators can choose more suitable biofuels based on the biofuel consumption plateau caused by the length of biofuel storage period, optimize both speed and the choice of refueling ports.