Establishing EEDI Baselines and Assessing Fouling Impacts for Energy Efficiency in Inland Cargo Vessels

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🔬研究者:Provides a data-driven approach to establish EEDI baselines for inland vessels, highlighting the importance of verified operational data.

🏢実務担当者:Ship operators and designers can use the proposed baselines to assess and improve energy efficiency, reducing fuel costs and emissions.

🏛政策担当者:Regulators can leverage the study to develop mandatory energy efficiency requirements for inland waterways, supporting decarbonization targets.

The Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI) serves as a key measure of a ship’s environmental performance and an indicator of its energy efficiency. For seagoing vessels, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) used comprehensive ship data from the ‘IHS Fairplay database’ to establish EEDI baselines. Although the IMO introduced energy efficiency standards for ships over a decade ago, these regulations have not yet been applied to inland navigation. As a result, inland waterway vessels are exempted from the mandatory energy efficiency requirements. This regulatory gap limits the adoption of more energy-efficient designs that could reduce the environmental impact in inland shipping. Inland general cargo vessels play a significant role in the transportation of goods and optimizing their energy efficiency is crucial for minimizing emissions and improving sustainability. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of EEDI calculations based on IMO’s energy efficiency framework to suit inland cargo vessels, with vessel types representative of those operating in the Indian subcontinent. Additionally, the paper explores the effects of various fouling scenarios on energy efficiency and investigates how emissions can be reduced by employing various energy efficiency measures tailored to inland waterways. According to the Directorate General of Shipping (DG shipping), Government of India, the annual fuel consumption report for 2021 indicates that 69% of diesel/gas oil consumptions comes from ships of less than 5000 GT, that are operating on domestic routes. Moreover, these smaller vessels account for 18-19% of total carbon emissions from Indian ships. With projected increase in carbon emissions, it is crucial to prepare for emission indices applicable for inland water ways that allow the inland shipping towards a greener environment. The current study serves as a foundational step towards achieving sustainable goals in inland waterways. Given the significant impact of these emissions, it is essential to assess the data quality and operational parameters of the vessels operating in the inland waterways to ensure accurate EEDI calculations. Field studies reveal discrepancies between actual measurements and existing design data mainly in the principal particulars, main and auxiliary engine powers, and design speed. All this deviated ship information has a high influence on EEDI values. For this reason, ship data should be verified to find the correct ones, which is the key factor to establish EEDI baselines for inland going vessels. For the current study, data from 441 Indian general cargo vessels operating in inland waterways are considered, and the analysis of the data revealed instances of ambiguous or faulty information. Verified data from this analysis was then used to propose new EEDI baselines for inland cargo vessels. The proposed EEDI line represents CO2 emissions per tonne-mile and highlighting the necessity of precise operational data for effective calculation. Additionally, the validation of bio-fouling impacts on the EEDI is also conducted by referencing different fouling stages over various years.

• semanticscholar https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1606/1/012001first seen 2026-06-29 06:21:46