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Maritime autonomous surface ships (MASS) are one of the hot topics in maritime transportation even though they bring many challenges in terms of safety, security, and environment. This paper tackles the safety-related challenges of remotely controlled ships without seafarers on board but controlled at the shore. In this context, the reliability of the operator is of paramount importance for safe and efficient MASS operation. This paper performs systematic human reliability analysis for the operator of MASS (for degree 3) under the Bayesian belief network (BBN) and evidential reasoning (ER)- cognitive reliability and error analysis method (CREAM) approach. In the model, BBN is capable of determining the probability distribution of Contextual Control Modes in CREAM, while ER tackles the uncertainty and subjectivity of expert judgments. The outcome of the paper shows that the human reliability for remote control MASS operation is 8.88E-01. Besides its robust theoretical background, the paper will provide the utmost contributions to operators, managers, safety inspectors, and ship owners of MASS for safer and reliable operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increased number, speed, and size of ships leads to an increased risk of accidents in ports with restricted navigational areas. A comprehensive risk assessment is required to understand the causal mechanisms involved in accidents. This study investigated the factors causing allision accidents that occurred during ship manoeuvres in the port areas. Nonconformities obtained from 112 allision accident reports were classified qualitatively with the Human Factors Analysis and Classification System for Passenger Vessel Accidents (HFACS-PV) method. Then, temporal and causal relationships between nonconformities were evaluated quantitatively with the DBN method. As a result, the probability of an allision accident and the risk identifying factors (RIFs) affecting allision during port manoeuvres were calculated. Familiarity with the vessel, using the bridge navigation equipment and features of structures in the port area are the riskiest factors leading to allision accidents. The study is thought to contribute at a practical and strategic level to ship owners, ship personnel, pilotage services, port authorities and all relevant stakeholders in understanding the risk of allision accidents occurring in ports and developing preventive regulations. • Dynamic risk assessment of allisions of ship manoeuvring in port areas is conducted. • The RIFs of the allisions were analyzed using a hybrid of HFACS-PV and DBN methods. • The study presents the allision model for maritime experts to assess the risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trans-ocean liner shipping companies adopt slow steaming during periods when the market is characterised by low demand, high fuel prices, low freight rates and overcapacity. The most recent instance in which this occurred was the period following the 2008/2009 global financial crises, and the speeds have not yet rebounded to the pre-crisis levels. Most of the existing research regarding slow steaming takes environmental, economic and maritime engineering perspectives, meaning that the phenomenon is studied from the viewpoint of ship owners. The purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of slow steaming from the shipper's perspective. • This paper explores the effects of slow steaming from the shipper's perspective. • Six Swedish companies acting globally were studied; the data from the case companies have been collected through face-to-face interviews. • The results of the study show that reliability has been regarded as more important than the sailing time itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vessel emissions are one of the major emissions sources affecting carbon neutralisation achievement in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). The vessel pollution prevention ability is effective in preventing vessels from discharging mass emissions. Thus, it is of great value to figure out the vessel's performance in pollution prevention in this area. This study develops a data-driven Bayesian network model focusing on vessel performance in pollution prevention in port state control (PSC) inspections in the GBA. The Tree Augmented Naïve and Expectation Maximisation approaches are applied to learn structures and parameters based on the inspection records obtained from January 2015 to September 2022. An analysis can identify key variables with significant effects on vessel performance in pollution prevention and clarify the positive influence and contributions of PSC inspections toward carbon neutralisation achievement. Practical implications are provided to foster port authorities and local governments in the GBA to minimize the vessels with poor pollution prevention performance sailing in this area. The study also identifies the characteristics of vessels with poor performance and proposes valuable suggestions to restrict the inattentive actions of ship owners and stimulate ship owners to put more effort into the improvement of pollution prevention ability. Further, the study reveals the significance of executing efficient and reliable PSC inspections in promoting carbon neutralisation progress. • A data-driven BN model to assess pollution prevention of vessels in GBA is built. • The influence of variables on vessel performance in pollution prevention is revealed. • Characteristics of vessels of poor pollution prevention performance are clarified. • Suggestions are provided for local governments to improve vessel quality in GBA. • Contribution of PSC inspections towards carbon neutralisation in GBA is expounded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black Sea type fishing vessels have been built on the shores of the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey for about 500 years. In recent years, this type of fishing vessel, which originated in the Black Sea, has become increasingly prevalent in the Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean, and Atlantic Oceans. Modifications were implemented on the Black Sea fishing vessels to optimize their performance in accordance with the prevailing sea conditions during fishing operations. Nonetheless, these improvements were not grounded in scientific knowledge, but rather in accordance with the desires of the ship owners and the experience of the shipbuilding industry. Due to this factor, the production of such fishing vessels cannot be standardised, and their resistance performance cannot be equivalent. The present study aimed to develop a dimensionless offset table that can be utilised to ensure the standard production of Black Sea type fishing vessels with consistent quality. By utilising the standard dimensionless offset table, it is possible to generate Black Sea type fishing vessels with a length ranging from 40 m to 60 m, a depth of 4.0 m to 5.5 m, and a length-to-breadth ratio of 2.5 to 3.5. Also, this methodology enables the creation of the ship's line plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract It was necessary to determine how to estimate the operational efficiency through an objective evaluation since a ship owner's interest was closely connected to the operating cost. Ship owners demanded that shipyards predicted the most efficient speed based on the evaluated operating cost by considering the hydrodynamic characteristics of a ship, sea route, environmental conditions including wind and waves, equipment features including main engine, and GCU, fuel property, and others. In this paper, we constructed a new approach to estimate the operating cost, by developing direct cost evaluation in consideration of the requested factors. As a result, the observed slow steaming was investigated on the basis of the hydrodynamic characteristics of the vessel and the effect of the activated GCU on the operating cost could be analyzed. Finally, a speed range within which slow steaming was effective was perceived, and the most efficient speed was observed at the lowest speed of that range. Highlights • The operating cost of an LNGC was estimated in consideration of the hydrodynamic characteristics, sea route, environmental conditions, and equipment operation. • The characteristics of the slow steaming was investigated from the estimated operating cost. • The most efficient speed was found in a speed range within which slow steaming is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Port State Control (PSC) is the major global strategy for fighting substandard shipping since the signature of The Hague Memorandum in 1978. In the last years, the increased volume of trade, the enlarged number of main international conventions and the highlighted differences among the various Regimes have posed new challenges to the modern system of PSC, which may need to find its new course. This paper examines the point of view of key maritime stakeholders with regard to the EU PSC regime. Elite interviews (n = 14) were conducted with subject matter experts ranging from policy makers, to industry and seafarers’ representatives. The study aims to determine factors leading to difference in treatment among EU Member States. The study concludes that PSC in Europe seems to be the most efficient and reliable of the regional agreement on PSC. However, some discrepancies during the inspection process and outcome can be highlighted due to differences at the inspector and Member State level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The time charter market for ships represents a classical example of the principal-agent problem, where shipowners can opt to invest in energy efficient ships, yet any savings in fuel expenditures accrue to the charterers. In a competitive and efficient market, ships that have more fuel-efficient designs should, all else equal, obtain a rate premium to reflect the fuel savings. In this paper we investigate empirically the determinants of timecharter rates using a comprehensive panel data set of over 9100 timecharter fixtures for bulk carriers above 40,000 DWT between January 2001 and January 2016. We test for the presence of an energy efficiency premium using four different definitions of efficiency, while controlling for key macro, ship-specific, and contract-specific variables. Our findings suggest that the “market rate” for a standardised vessel dominates in terms of explanatory power, but that vessel age, fuel prices, place of delivery and DWT also are significant determinants across sizes. We show that the earlier findings on the energy efficiency premium in the literature are not robust when expanding the sample in time and vessel size. Using a substantially longer sample across an entire market cycle, we show that only 14–27% of fuel savings are reflected in a higher rate during normal market conditions, while the sign of the relationship flips during market “booms” such that energy inefficient vessels attract a premium. We introduce several explanations as to why there is an apparent market failure and suggest policy measures that could address this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a decision model for a ship-owner who contemplates the benefits of sailing north via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) or south via the Suez Canal Route (SCR) when transporting oil products from Russia to Asia. The decision is based on potential cost and transit time savings that change on a monthly basis according to sailing conditions and the area along the NSR. This study is applied to a 1A Ice-Class Panamax tanker vessel sailing through the NSR compared to a Panamax tanker vessel sailing through the SCR. It concludes that the NSR provides a competitive advantage in the months from August to November when conservative assumptions on ice conditions (higher bound) are considered for the level of ice thickness encountered along the route and from July to November when a lower bound is assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discovering how different oil price shocks influence dynamic dependence between the crude oil and tanker freight markets is vital to ship operators and owners' responses to different shocks. This study proposes a mixed-frequency data sampling copula model to identify the determinants and analyze their impacts on dynamic dependence between the two markets. Using a dataset covering 2 January 2002 to 30 November 2021, the proposed copula model achieved better goodness-of-fit performance by incorporating the monthly explanatory variables into the dynamic evolution of the daily correlations. As indicated, oil non-supply shocks primarily determined their correlations without considering extreme market conditions, which lasted for approximately 24 months. Additionally, the determinants of the dynamic correlations were oil supply and non-supply shocks in the jointly crashing markets, which were found to be oil non-supply and tanker-specific shocks in the jointly booming markets. Their impacts can last up to six months. These findings enable ship operators and owners to better understand how oil price shocks affect dynamic dependence between the two markets, thus improving their decisions regarding ship chartering, ship selling/purchasing, operating speed, and derivative product investments. • The mixed-frequency data sampling copula model had better goodness-of-fit performance. • Oil non-supply shocks primarily determined cross-market dependence under normal market conditions. • Determinants of lower tail dependence were oil supply and non-supply shocks. • Determinants of upper tail dependence were oil non-supply and tanker-specific shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The necessity to improve the hydrodynamic performance of marine vessels has confirmed the urgency of conducting further investigations on biomimetic tubercles. In this work, towing tank tests were conducted at a range of speeds on conveniently prepared flat plates coated with 3D printed humpback whales mimicked tubercles. The results showed that the artificial tubercles induced a drag reduction of up to 1.3% compared to the bare flat plate. Following the experimental campaign presented, some relevant considerations for ship owners and naval architects will be proposed. • 3D printed humpback whales mimicked tubercles were developed for flat plate towing tests. • Various test configurations were realised by applying tubercle models on the flat plate systematically. • Towing tests were conducted at a range of speeds, and a comparison between the total resistance coefficients was presented. • The results showed a drag reduction of the flat plate due to tubercles' upstream or downstream configurations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the peak years of ransom piracy along the coast of Somalia, hijacked vessels remained anchored with hostages aboard for months or even years whilst hostage takers awaited ransom payments in exchange for releasing these vessels and their hostages. The present study theorizes how spatial strategies of violence co-produced carceral experiences among hostages and hostage takers alike by analyzing testimonials from former ransom piracy hostages aboard ships whose owners lacked insurance to disburse ransom payments and whose crew consisted of seafarers from African, Asian, and Middle Eastern countries ill-equipped to provide ransom payments. Utilizing a threefold theoretical conceptualization that unites work by political geographers on negative biopolitics (Rose), the violence of logistics (Cowen), and state ignorance (Hannah), the present study illuminates the precarious situation of both seafarer hostages and hostage takers aboard captured ships and demonstrates how hostage takers, ship owners, and global geopolitics jointly contributed to the suffering associated with ransom piracy along the coast of Somalia. • Hijacked ships become precarious carceral spaces that continuously (re)produce experiences of containment and violence. • We theorize the concept of carceral occupation at sea. • Carceral occupation exacerbates the precarious situation and violence experienced by seafarer hostages and hostage takers. • Hostage takers, ship owners, and global geopolitics jointly contributed to the suffering associated with ransom piracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dismantling and recycling of end-of-life vessels in the so-called environmentally friendly manner has been a major challenge faced by ship owners, ship dismantling yard owners as well as government agencies worldwide today. On one-hand, this paper intends to provide the knowledge-base needed by individual yard owners for planning their short term and long term activities. On the other hand it is hoped that this paper will serve as an essential part of the management information system which will help in governance of cluster of ship dismantling yards. The emission factors estimated in this study using field sample survey of 241 ships dismantled during 2011–2013 in the cluster at Alang Port could be put to use while predicting the quantities of wastes generated from dismantling of six types of ships (bulk carrier, general cargo, container, refrigerator and passenger) which further can be used in preparing environmental management plan to handle the same. The % ships and % cumulative LDT of ships in a given category could also be predicted for the cluster using the validated results reported in this study. Finally, on the basis of primary data collected from over 100 yards in Alang Port and with the help of face-to-face interactions with several field personnel; a “typical ship dismantling and recycling procedure” was articulated. It is argued that the in-depth understanding of the prevailing “know-how” alone can help in development and diffusion of cleaner technologies for benefit of this sector and facilitate in instituting the integrated waste management system that will eventually ensure safe and environmentally friendly ship recycling - especially in the context of “Ship Recycling Regulation” recently passed by the European Parliament as well as the draft of “Hong Kong Convention”, being negotiated at the International Maritime Organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current naval shipowners are being forced to extend the service lives of their aging vessels from budgetary and political constraints. This is causing them to incur significant costs due to maintaining the structure of these older ships to keep the ships in operation. These increasing costs make it desirable to design new naval structures with their minimization in mind, as well as ensuring that such vessels are robust to changes in expected service life with respect to their total lifetime cost. However, such structures will necessarily have higher production costs, therefore, an optimization framework is presented to estimate both production and maintenance costs for a naval vessel's internal structure and develop trade-spaces between these two competing objectives in order to find designs that represent a balance of both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the first analysis on how financial savings arising from energy efficient ships are allocated between owners and those hiring the ships. This as an important undertaking as allocation of financial savings is expected to have an impact on the incentives faced by ship owners to invest in more energy efficient vessels. We focus on the dry bulk Panamax segment as it contributes to around 50Mt (5%) of total CO2 emissions from shipping in 2007 and therefore its importance in terms of environmental impact should not be neglected. The time charter market represents a classical example of the principal-agent problem similar to the tenant-landlord problem in the buildings sector. We discovered that on average only 40% of the financial savings delivered by energy efficiency accrue to ship owner for the period 2008-2012. The finding that only part of the savings are recouped by shipowners affecting their incentives towards energy efficiency could consequently have implications on the type of emission reduction policies opted at both, global and regional levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a new quantitative safety index for each worldwide sea-going vessel based on their condition information and safety records. The safety index can generate a relative risk score using binary logistic regression method and a dataset with both static and dynamic information covering over 90% of the world sea-going merchant fleet. It has a widely potential usage for both industry and academic research, e.g., for port authorities to determine whether an on board inspection is needed; for insurers to determine premium rate; and for shipowners to identify functional areas for repair and maintenance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of MARPOL Annex VI in the North and Baltic Sea Sulphur Emission Control Area (SECA) has raised economic concerns among shippers and shipowners, as well as spurred policymakers to appeal to various interests, such as citizen health, export industry competitiveness, and consumer prices. To justify their cases, policymakers and stakeholders have commissioned various agencies to monitor the implementation’s effects upon sustainability, especially regarding a potential modal shift from sea to road transport. This article thus reviews some of these commissioned studies in order to analyse the effects of the implementation and the possibility of modal shift. It also provides an agent-based simulation study of route choice for comparatively high-value cargo from Lithuania in the east to the United Kingdom in the west. Ultimately, the results of our TAPAS study do not provide concrete evidence supporting a modal shift from sea to road transport and indeed, they indicate that a shift is unlikely to occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While successful trials for autonomously navigating ships have been conducted, commercially available unmanned cargo ships are currently unavailable. However, there are many solutions available that will allow for low-manned ship concepts long before fully unmanned ships are possible. There are many drivers for low-manned and unmanned shipping, ranging from availability of workforce, to increased safety to economic. This article investigates the economic viability of several low-manned ship concepts as well as the unmanned ship concept for a short sea container vessel. The operating cost of these concepts are compared to those of a conventional vessel. That way, an assessment can be made on the economic viability. The results show that the low-manned concepts investigated in this article are worthwhile for the ship owner, as some savings can be achieved. The economic viability of the unmanned concept is dependent on the chosen type of propulsion. • Costs for low-manned ships are comparable to fully manned ships. • The economic viability of unmanned ships is dependent on the chosen propulsion. • Additional investments to sail with fewer crew are covered by the lower manning cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many technical and operational measures provide energy efficiency for existing ships. The decision-making process is very complex as shipowners must consider many criteria regarding the implementation of these measures. This study aims to determine the criteria that shipowners consider while they select energy efficiency measures for existing ships, and the importance levels of these criteria based on shipowners' opinions. Besides, this study aims to determine which energy efficiency measures are preferred more according to the criteria that shipowners consider when they select energy efficiency measures. The questionnaire surveys were conducted face-to-face with twenty-three participants who were senior managers and/or inspectors of shipowner companies in Turkey, and each participant represents one company. The importance levels of the criteria that affect the decision-making process were determined by using the Fuzzy AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) method based on obtained quantitative data. The performance values of energy efficiency measures were determined by using the fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) method. According to the findings, the most important criterion was "Practicality Level of Planning, Procurement and Installation Process". The energy efficiency measure with the highest performance value was "Hull Cleaning". It was seen that the most preferred energy efficiency measures were operational measures instead of retrofit and technical measures. • A framework for decision-making process of Shipowners for Implementing Energy Efficiency Measures is presented. • A combination of Fuzzy AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS methods is used to determine results of decision-making problem. • The most preferred energy efficiency measures for existing ships are operational instead of retrofits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The seasonal melting of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean, which has been confirmed for several summers in a row and is widely documented, has become a hot topic in the media. It is fuelling many speculative scenarios about the purported renewal of a “cold war”, or even an actual armed conflict, in the Arctic, for the control of both its natural resources and its sea routes. The melting sea ice is indeed giving a second wind to projects, abandoned in the 19th century, to find shorter sea routes between Europe and Asia. A look at the map shows the savings in distance that can be achieved with the Arctic routes: for example, a trip between London and Yokohama through the Northwest Passage is 15,700km and 13,841km through the Northeast Passage, which is significantly shorter than the route through Suez (21,200km) or Panama (23,300km). [2] Data calculated by the author using Mapinfo GIS software. 2 These findings fuel the idea that these Arctic routes, because they are shorter, are bound to attract abundant through traffic, and consequently will become a major political issue. Amid the media widespread image of a future maritime highway across Arctic seas, even some scientists yield to the popular image and assert, without proof, that Arctic traffic is set to increase rapidly. [3] For instance, «Because the Northwest Passage is about to become an alternative route to the Panama Canal, the volume of use within the passage will likely exceed 3000 vessels a year», . The Northwest Passage’s Emergence as an International Highway. Southwestern Journal of International Law, 15, p. 469. 3 Beyond the seemingly decisive advantage of Arctic routes, however, there remain many obstacles to navigation (). In addition, these scenarios for the development of marine traffic in the Arctic remain highly speculative and are not based on an analysis of shipowners’ perceptions, which is the goal of this paper. This article will thus present the results of an empirical survey conducted among shipping companies to determine their interest in developing activities in the Arctic. Besides examining the potential development of shipping in Arctic routes, this research must be replaced in the context of intense competition between shippers, competition that makes both service reliability and costs of transport paramount. In this competition structure, the benefits of established routes between major hubs seems to prevail, so that new routes have difficulty being established. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The selection of appropriate vessels to carry out shipping activities is crucial for many maritime stakeholders including charterers, shipowners, brokers, surveyors and safety engineers. The task is essentially a process of multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) under uncertainty requiring analysts to derive rational decisions from ambiguous and incomplete data contained in different quantitative and qualitative forms. Fuzzy Techniques for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) have been well documented in the literature and commonly used in the process of group decision-making under fuzzy environment. While showing the attractiveness in dealing with ambiguous estimates, they have been criticised to be incapable of modelling incompleteness encountered in decision analysis. This paper therefore uses the concept of degrees of belief to develop a novel approximate interval TOPSIS approach for overcoming some of the drawbacks of classical fuzzy TOPSIS methods and facilitating the development of reliable vessel selection models under uncertain environment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The closest relationships between ship management companies and shipyards begin with the initial design process of new ships and they continue during the life cycle of operating ships. Periodic docking facilities which can be recognized as the biggest logistical issue in the content of ship maintenance program are the critical processes from the viewpoint of ship owners. Hence, this process should be well-planned and organized to satisfy the various expectations such as quality of service, capacity limitations, and geographical advantages, by taking cost and time constraints into account. Hence, the selection problem with respect to several criteria to find the most suitable shipyards is getting more important for ship management companies. This paper investigates a systematic evaluation model on docking facilities of shipyards to provide a decision aid for technical ship managers and to perform this responsibility in an efficient manner. Multiple criteria fuzzy axiomatic design (FAD) approach is used for selection among shipyards since FAD lets us define the design interval of each criterion. The original contributions of the paper are seemed in both enhancing the theoretical frame of FAD in terms of managing group consensus and performing an application to a real case in maritime industry. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Selection of the suitable shipping registry alternative for the existing fleet or new building ships is one of the critical decision milestones of the shipping business. The main aim of this paper is to structure a practical decision support mechanism on ensuring multiple criteria analysis of shipping registry selection. Fuzzy AHP methodology, based on Chang’s extent analysis, is determined to be utilized in order to model the shipping registry selection. After structuring the fundamental hierarchy, the model is performed with a case application on Turkish maritime industry to be able to obtain illustrative results. The shipping registries of Turkiye, Panama, and Malta are determined to evaluate as the potential alternatives for Turkish ship owners. When the literature was examined for the applications of analytical methodologies on maritime business, it was seemed that they were so rare. Therefore, the originality of this study appears on modeling of the critical process under multidisciplinary philosophy in ship management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• We identify the determinants of the owners' abatement choice for newbuilding ships. • Vessel type plays a critical role in the shipowners' abatement solutions. • The shipowners from different countries exhibit a unique abatement preference. • The Sulfur Cap has triggered demand for scrubber but not alternative fuel. • The influence of bunker cost for abatement solutions of new vessels is pretty weak. Because of the long lifetime of newbuilding vessels, shipowners' emission abatement solutions will have a profound impact on the greening transition of the shipping industry. A multinominal logit model is developed to identify the key determinants that affect the shipowners' choice of the solutions. New findings include: (1) Alternative fuels (e.g. liquefied natural gas) are the most attractive choice for gas ships and pure car carriers; and dry bulk ships and crude tankers prefer to use low-sulfur fuels. (2) Singaporean and Japanese shipowners are more likely to adopt the alternative fuels. (3) The IMO 2020 cap has significantly affected shipowners' preference for scrubbers but not for alternative fuels. It is well known that economic factors affecting a shipowner's decisions include freight rate and bunker cost but these factors weakly influence the emission abatement solution choice for new ships. This research provides helpful insights for the policymaker to guide shipowners to invest in more eco-friendly vessels and assist various stakeholders in forming efficient decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A tool is developed to aid the selection of PSC detention risk control strategies. • BNs and TOPSIS are incorporated as a new methodology for decision-making. • Detention risk control strategies are quantitatively measured in a dynamic manner. • Useful insights are provided to reduce possible ship detention risk in PSC. Port State Control (PSC) inspections have been implemented as an administrative measure to detect and detain substandard ships and thus to ensure maritime safety. Advanced risk models were developed to investigate the impact of factors influencing ship detention. Although showing much attractiveness, current studies still reveal a key challenge on how such analysis can improve the ship performance in PSC inspections and aid PSC detention risk control decision. By incorporating a data-driven Bayesian network (BN) into the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method, this paper proposes a new ship detention risk control methodology, in which the decision criteria are generated from the root risk variables, and the alternatives refer to the established strategies adopted by ship-owners in their practical ship detention risk control. Along with the new methodology, the main technical novelty of this paper lies in the quantitative measurement of the effectiveness of each strategy in terms of the reduction of detention rate in a dynamic manner. Its practical contributions are seen, from both ship owner and port authority perspectives, through the provisions of useful insights on dynamic evaluation of rational control strategies to reduce ship detention risk under various PSC inspection scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dismantling end-of-life ships in substandard conditions has detrimental effects on the environment, labour rights and occupational health. To steer the industry's transition towards adopting more sustainable practices, the European Union has introduced the European Ship Recycling Regulation (SRR), which includes a list of certified shipyards (the European List, EL) that are allowed to recycle EU-flagged fleet. The functionality of the SRR, and especially the adequacy of the recycling capacity included in the European List, has raised doubts among the academic community and practitioners. To increase understanding, this article reviews the recycling demand posed by existing EU-flagged fleet and compares it to the recycling capacity available in the beginning of 2020. State-of-the-art fleet statistics obtained from the Clarkson World Fleet Register are subjected to descriptive statistical analysis, regression analysis and ANOVA. The results show that the current capacity of the EL is not adequate to cover the anticipated recycling demand. This implies that substantial additional capacity located outside the EU is needed. At the current commodity price levels the estimated market potential is not likely to attract enough newcomers that meet the standard to the market. The scrapping prices may decline significantly increasing the cost of replenishment for the shipping business. The article makes a solid policy contribution in terms of evaluating the implications of the SRR and providing valuable insights for the future in a context in which policymaking is constantly evolving. • Current capacity under the European Ship Recycling Regulation is insufficient. • High costs and low revenue potential likely to prevent newcomers from the market. • Scrap values of EU-flagged vessels are likely to decline. • The cost of replenishment for the European ship owners expected to increase. • New policy instruments needed to secure environmentally sound recycling practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We assess the risk and return relationship in the dry bulk freight market. • Shipowners are not uniformly risk averse with utilities being concave (convex) for losses (gains). • For longer-term contracts there exists a negative association between risk and return. • Shipowners are willing to offer a discount on time-charter rates to offset loss of flexibility. • Optimal chartering strategies should use a combination of spot and period contracts. This study examines the risk-return trade-off in the dry bulk freight market under different scenarios such as risk measures, risk attitudes and controlling for variables associated with the freight rate cycle. For long-term contracts, there exists a negative association between risk and return, suggesting that shipowners are willing to offer a discount on time-charter rates over spot rates to compensate for the loss of flexibility. Additionally, shipowners are not uniformly risk averse, as finance theory suggests, since their utility functions are concave (risk-averse) for losses and convex (risk-seeking) for gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]