The effectiveness and costs of speed reductions on emissions from international shipping

Authors

James J. Corbett
James J. . Winebrake

Document Type

Article Restricted

Publication Date

2009

Journal Title

Transportation research part D

Volume Number

14

Issue Number

8

First Page

593

Last Page

598

Abstract

Greenhouse gas emissions from international shipping are an increasing concern. The paper evaluates whether vessel speed reduction can be a potentially cost-effective CO₂mitigation option for ships calling on US ports. By applying a profit-maximizing equation to estimate route-specific, economically-efficient speeds, we explore policy impacts of a fuel tax and a speed reduction mandate on CO₂ emissions. The profit-maximizing function incorporates opportunity costs associated with speed reduction that go unobserved in more traditional marginal abatement cost analyses. We find that a fuel tax of about $150/ton fuel will lead to average speed-related CO₂ reductions of about 20–30%. Moreover, a speed reduction mandate targeted to achieve 20% CO₂ reduction in the container fleet costs between $30 and $200 per ton CO₂ abated, depending on how the fleet responds to a speed reduction mandate.