Ferry ports have limited shore power (cold ironing) facilities, and ferry fleets are in the process of transitioning to hybrid (diesel and electric battery power) vessels. This research demonstrates that optimising berth allocations can deliver immediate reductions in port emissions while increasing the return on investment in shore-power infrastructure, while serving the same travel demand, and reducing the need for grid upgrades.

Key findings:

  • Energy-Aware Scheduling modelling can reduce emissions by 12-40% and reduce diesel fall back at berth
  • Shore power sees further emissions reduction up to 70% with a ferry fleet transition to  hybrid
  • Fewer, fuller crossings can reduce emissions per crossing by up to 40% this is by sharing flexible freight across operators while meeting each operator’s car demand.

Policy recommendations:

  • Make energy aware scheduling a priority throughout transition phases
  • Timing upgrades to the grid and battery reinforcement based on evidence of optimisation will reduce overbuild risk

This bulletin is based on a publication by Dr Asefe Forghani, Professor Ying Xie, Dr Mahdi Jahangard, Professor Dongping Song and Dr Yuanjun Feng titled “Energy-aware scheduling and berth allocation for ferries under phased cold ironing upgrades”

 

Recommended citation:

Forghani, A.& Copeland, C. L. (2026). Port emissions reduction through energy-aware ferry scheduling. UK National Clean Maritime Research Hub. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.21455158

 

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