Assessing the decarbonization roadmap of a RoPax ferry

Bening Mayanti (), Magnus Hellström and Anthony Katumwesigye
Additional contact information
Bening Mayanti: University of Vaasa
Magnus Hellström: Åbo Akademi University
Anthony Katumwesigye: Åbo Akademi University

Maritime Economics & Logistics, 2025, vol. 27, issue 1, No 5, 123-146

Abstract: Abstract The reduction of emissions from shipping is necessary to combat climate change. One viable option is to change the fuels utilized. In this study, we investigate the environmental and economic performance of marine diesel oil (MDO), liquified natural gas (LNG), liquified biogas (LBG), and a mixture of LNG and LBG. We study a real case of a roll-on/roll-off passenger ship (RoPax) in Finland. Life cycle thinking is applied to assess the environmental impact, covering emissions from well to propeller (raw material extraction, fuel production, transportation, storage, and combustion), while the economic implications are estimated through future fuel prices and carbon pricing from 2023 to 2050. The carbon pricing covers different carbon tax schemes, namely stated policies scenario (STEPS), sustainable development scenarios (SDS), and net-zero emissions (NZE). STEPS reflects the existing measures and policies under development; SDS pursues to meet the goal of Paris Agreement, while NZE aims to reach net zero. Adopting LNG would improve carbon dioxide emissions, but the overall climate change impact was not significantly lower than MDO. It is also found that the biggest environmental improvement can be obtained by switching to LBG, although future availability can be an issue. The economic assessment shows that LBG has the highest fuel price uncertainties, although its carbon cost will be the lowest. Alternatively, using LNG & LBG mixture can serve as a transition path to contain climate change while dealing with its price uncertainty and availability.

Keywords: Decarbonization; Short-sea shipping; Liquefied natural gas; Liquefied biogas; Marine diesel fuel; LCA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41278-024-00288-y Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:marecl:v:27:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41278-024-00288-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer. ... nt/journal/41278/PS2

DOI: 10.1057/s41278-024-00288-y

Access Statistics for this article

Maritime Economics & Logistics is currently edited by Hercules E. Haralambides

More articles in Maritime Economics & Logistics from Palgrave Macmillan, International Association of Maritime Economists (IAME) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().