MISSION and its impacts
The environment
Pollution derived from maritime shipping activities has profound implications for air and water quality and marine and estuarine biodiversity.
MISSION’s solution will allow vessels to save 10-20% fuel during port arrival and anchorage operations, thus leading to a corresponding reduction in GHGs emissions and in decreased negative effects on air and water ecosystem. Moreover, MISSION will provide quantitative estimates of the emission reductions arising from optimal operations in real case studies. Reductions in fuel consumption of 10 to 20% with corresponding reductions in greenhouse gas emissions should be demonstrated, compared to business as usual during navigation and at port and at port-to-port approach. The project will enable shipping companies to quantify their fuel savings and the GHG emissions avoided because of the optimisation system and the real-time information shared with ports during vessel voyage.
The full monitoring and measurement of the GHG emissions associated to vessel’s voyages, which will be carried through simulations and DCs, may signify a stepping stone for quantifying emissions in the maritime sector.
MISSION contributes to UN SDG 13 (Climate Action) by proposing concrete solutions for the fight against climate change of the maritime industry. Moreover, the measures proposed for ship operators - i.e., reduction of fuel consumption and related emissions - align with national and international environmental policies and provide strategies for reducing the GHG emissions related to port operations.
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| CHALLENGE | MISSION’S SOLUTION | CONTRIBUTIONS/POSITIVE IMPACTS |
|---|---|---|
| Pollution derived from maritime shipping activities leads to profound implications for air and water quality, as well as marine and estuarine biodiversity | MISSION will allow vessels to save 10-20% of fuel during port arrival and anchorage operations | Reduction of GHGs emissions and a reduction of the negative effects on air and water ecosystems |
| High emissions arising from optimal operations | Quantitative estimates of the emission reductions arising from optimal operations in real case studies | |
| The fuel emissions derived from factors such as unoptimised port waiting time | Reductions in fuel consumption of 10 to 20% | • Reduce GHG emissions • Enable shipping companies to quantify their fuel savings and the GHG emissions avoided because of the optimisation system and the real-time information shared with ports during vessel voyage. • MISSION will signify a stepping stone for quantifying emissions in maritime transport |
| Reduction of fuel consumption and related emissions | Contribution to UN SDG 13 - Climate Action |
Maritime safety
MISSION will develop methods, models, and analytics to quantitatively assess the safety of vessel operations and fairway navigation during port entering and exiting. This solution has the potential to become a globally accepted and implemented guideline. Moreover, by improving sea traffic management from onshore, MISSION will increase navigational safety.
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| CHALLENGE | MISSION’S SOLUTION | CONTRIBUTIONS/POSITIVE IMPACTS |
|---|---|---|
| Low navigational safety | Improved sea traffic management from onshore | Increased navigational safety |
People’s health
Ports heavily affect the health and quality of life of local populations.
Air pollution due to CO2, SOx, NOx, and PM, volatile organic compounds, and ozone (O3) contributes to significant health problems particularly for children, the elderly, outdoor workers, and sensitive individuals with pre-existing heart and lung diseases and thus is of major concern among the public.
Decreasing the waiting time of vessels in ports and port areas, accelerating their operations, and thus reducing their fuel consumption by 10-20% will have considerable benefits for the health and quality of life of near-port communities.
On the long run, this will also have positive economic repercussions connected to less money spent on healthcare.
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| CHALLENGE | MISSION’S SOLUTION | CONTRIBUTIONS/POSITIVE IMPACTS |
|---|---|---|
| Ports affect the health and quality of life of local populations, leading to significant health concerns | Decrease the waiting time of vessels in ports and port areas, accelerating their operations and thus reducing fuel consumption by 10-20% | Improvement of health and quality of life for near-port communities |
| In the long term, positive economic repercussions emerging from less money spent on healthcare |
Technological innovation
Full-scale demonstration of an interoperable port call and voyage optimisation tool on existing routes and services involving at least three ports and two shipping companies, as well as relevant stakeholders in port operations.
Development of port call optimisation standards to facilitate a secure, resilient, and operational real-time digital data sharing and decision support system for port and voyage optimisation, and development of operational roadmap(s) for standard technical committees.
Develop a secure and resilient IT-infrastructure including programming interfaces with recovery mechanisms that will adhere to a harmonised structure of standards, allowing its interchangeability between other systems.
MISSION aims to develop a unified and standardised toolbox to adhere to when creating further innovative digital solutions in the maritime sector.
MISSION’s full scope contributes to a more competitive European waterborne industry and the consortium can lead by example in terms of the level of cooperation needed to provide new sustainable and digital technologies in different sectors.
It also contributes to UN SDG9- Industry Innovation , and Infrastructure - by digitally upgrading important infrastructures, such as ports, and retrofitting the maritime sector with digital platforms and technologies supporting the reduction of its environmental footprint, resulting in higher efficiency and sustainability
The economy
The global maritime industry influences many other industries, which rely on maritime trade to transport goods and raw materials.
MISSION will contribute to:
- Improved operational efficiency of vessels when arriving to/departing from ports, eliminating waiting time during navigation and at the port;
- Adaptation to the existing and/or development of business models to prove the commercial viability of voyage and port call optimisation to facilitate take up and its wider application;
- Improved efficiency of vessels operations arriving at and departing from ports. This will translate into economic gains for the actors involved. It will also have a positive impact in jobs retention and creation;
- Digitalisation of maritime operations which will have important micro-economic effects since they result in overall welfare and economies of scale;
- Development of sustainable business models which will ensure extensive market penetration and maximise benefits realisation.
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| STATE OF THE ART | MISSION’S SOLUTION | CONTRIBUTIONS/POSITIVE IMPACTS |
|---|---|---|
| The EU shipping industry contributes €54 billion to EU GDP and directly employs 685,000 people | Improve operational efficiency of vessels when arriving to/departing from ports | Elimination of waiting times during navigation and at the port |
| In 2022, the global maritime information market was worth EUR 1.6 billion and is expected to reach EUR 2.9 billion by 2028 | Adaption to existing and/or development of business models | Prove the commercial viability of voyage and port call optimisation |
| The global maritime analytics market is expected to grow from EUR 906 million (2021) to EUR 1962 million (2028) | Digitalisation of maritime operations | Improve the overall welfare and economies of scale |
| Development of sustainable business models | Extensive market penetration and maximise benefits realisation |
