10
T. Soomere
estimated average expected annual losses to bulk shipping operations from extratropical storm exposure in these regions is on the order of 150 million USD/yr.
This asymmetry leaves quite a limited space for an environmentally friendly approach. The predominance of economic and safety aspects is clearly expressed in
recent applications of the potential use of currents. The driving force is the economic
benefit and optimum ship routing is defined as “the selection of an optimum track
for a transoceanic crossing by the application of long-range predictions of wind,
waves and currents to the knowledge of how the routed vessel reacts to these variables” (Lee et al. 2002). Even when the term ‘environmental routing’ is used, it is
frequently interpreted as a variation of methods of accounting for the potential effects of metocean factors such as ocean currents and heavy weather. In many cases
they are simply considered as potential sources of economic risk that may influence cruising speed and fuel consumption, and are usually attached to “other related
shipping problems” (Christiansen et al. 2004). Recent examples of mathematical research on operational weather routing (Azaron and Kianfar 2003) use methods from
stochastic dynamic programming to find the best path under given environmental
conditions; this approach, however, leads to a fast increase in the complexity of the
algorithm.
The importance of environmentally friendly shipping was widely recognized in
the mid-1990s. It became evident that in addition to ship types and cargoes, also
the geography of shipping routes is an intrinsic major component of the environmental management of shipping, in particular concerning risk and environmental
impact (Lo and McCord 1995; Judson 1997). There exist, however, very few studies
in the international scientific literature (Eide et al. 2007) of a fairway choice based
on environmental arguments or aimed at the identification of the potential influence
of existing fairways in terms of environmental criteria (Schwehr and McGillivary
2007). An early attempt to address this problem was made in terms of the environmental impact assessments (Smith 1995). Since then, mainly the issue of whales
(who are potentially hit by ships in the North Atlantic and in the Mediterranean
Sea) has been considered in-depth in regard to environment/ecosystem-based risk
categories (Ward-Geiger et al. 2005; Panigada et al. 2006). An urgent need “for a
comprehensive, basin-wide conservation strategy . . . to re-locate ferry routes to areas of lower cetacean density” was recognized in the Mediterranean (Panigada et al.
2006).
To reduce the threat to whales, a mandatory ship reporting system was established in July 1999 in the waters off the north-eastern and the south-eastern United
States. Reporting ships received an automated message indicating precautionary
steps to be taken to avoid hitting whales. One of the results was the identification of
the most frequently used ship tracks. Such a ‘portrait’ of ship traffic was then used
to develop measures to reduce the threat of ship strikes. A substantial by-product
was the identification of a systematic spatial variation in the pattern of the presence
of whales in different open sea regions (Fig. 1.2). An analysis of these two patterns
led to a breakthrough: the decision to relocate the fairway entering Boston Harbour
to the area of minimum probability of the presence of whales (Stokstad 2009). Doing so increased the sailing time by only about 15 minutes and did not involve any
noticeable infrastructure costs.
T. Soomere
estimated average expected annual losses to bulk shipping operations from extratropical storm exposure in these regions is on the order of 150 million USD/yr.
This asymmetry leaves quite a limited space for an environmentally friendly approach. The predominance of economic and safety aspects is clearly expressed in
recent applications of the potential use of currents. The driving force is the economic
benefit and optimum ship routing is defined as “the selection of an optimum track
for a transoceanic crossing by the application of long-range predictions of wind,
waves and currents to the knowledge of how the routed vessel reacts to these variables” (Lee et al. 2002). Even when the term ‘environmental routing’ is used, it is
frequently interpreted as a variation of methods of accounting for the potential effects of metocean factors such as ocean currents and heavy weather. In many cases
they are simply considered as potential sources of economic risk that may influence cruising speed and fuel consumption, and are usually attached to “other related
shipping problems” (Christiansen et al. 2004). Recent examples of mathematical research on operational weather routing (Azaron and Kianfar 2003) use methods from
stochastic dynamic programming to find the best path under given environmental
conditions; this approach, however, leads to a fast increase in the complexity of the
algorithm.
The importance of environmentally friendly shipping was widely recognized in
the mid-1990s. It became evident that in addition to ship types and cargoes, also
the geography of shipping routes is an intrinsic major component of the environmental management of shipping, in particular concerning risk and environmental
impact (Lo and McCord 1995; Judson 1997). There exist, however, very few studies
in the international scientific literature (Eide et al. 2007) of a fairway choice based
on environmental arguments or aimed at the identification of the potential influence
of existing fairways in terms of environmental criteria (Schwehr and McGillivary
2007). An early attempt to address this problem was made in terms of the environmental impact assessments (Smith 1995). Since then, mainly the issue of whales
(who are potentially hit by ships in the North Atlantic and in the Mediterranean
Sea) has been considered in-depth in regard to environment/ecosystem-based risk
categories (Ward-Geiger et al. 2005; Panigada et al. 2006). An urgent need “for a
comprehensive, basin-wide conservation strategy . . . to re-locate ferry routes to areas of lower cetacean density” was recognized in the Mediterranean (Panigada et al.
2006).
To reduce the threat to whales, a mandatory ship reporting system was established in July 1999 in the waters off the north-eastern and the south-eastern United
States. Reporting ships received an automated message indicating precautionary
steps to be taken to avoid hitting whales. One of the results was the identification of
the most frequently used ship tracks. Such a ‘portrait’ of ship traffic was then used
to develop measures to reduce the threat of ship strikes. A substantial by-product
was the identification of a systematic spatial variation in the pattern of the presence
of whales in different open sea regions (Fig. 1.2). An analysis of these two patterns
led to a breakthrough: the decision to relocate the fairway entering Boston Harbour
to the area of minimum probability of the presence of whales (Stokstad 2009). Doing so increased the sailing time by only about 15 minutes and did not involve any
noticeable infrastructure costs.