Correlation of the Ship Speed and Carbon Dioxide Emissions: A Study on Panamax Tankers

The amount of energy needed by the maritime industry is increasing depending on the global energy demand and the increase in commercial activities. Larger ships are expected to create greater challenges in the energy demand and environmental performance issues. Therefore, estimating fuel consumption and emissions are important preliminary steps to avoid these problems. In this study, the relationship between speed and CO2 emissions is reduced to a single equation. It aims to reach fuel consumption and emission amounts by using only speed input. Since the speed input includes RPM, weather and sea conditions, cargo quantity and wave course data, the effects of these data on fuel consumption have been obtained indirectly. In this way, fuel consumption and emissions can be predicted depending on the speed through a simple equation, and the solutions on measurements and route optimization would be much easier.