Energy efficiency of inland waterway self-propelled cargo ships

Abstract

Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) was introduced a few years ago by IMO as a technical metric to improve energy efficiency and environmental behaviour of seagoing ships. This measure already has substantial influence on global marine ship building industry. However, any requirements related to the energy & emission efficiency of inland waterway ships still doesn't exist. According to the results of the analysis, which was based on 111 existing inland waterway self-propelled cargo ships, EEDI that was introduced for seagoing ships cannot be applied for proper benchmarking of inland waterway ships, due to a variety of reasons related mostly to the conditions specific to inland waterway navigation. Thus, the principal objective of this paper is to propose a reliable tool for benchmarking energy efficiency and carbon emissions of inland waterway self-propelled cargo ships, which should be similar to already accepted approach for seagoing ships. Accordingly, the Modified Energy Efficiency Design Index - i.e. EEDI∗, which is more adjusted to inland waterway self-propelled cargo ships, is presented in this paper.