Nonlinear programming based liner shipping route optimization under ECA restriction

This study proposes an innovate nonlinear programming model to optimize the shipping cost under the restriction of Emission Control Area (ECA). The arctic shipping route entitles the most potentially route from Asia to Europe to significantly reduce the shipping cost. Therefore, aiming to optimal the existing shipping cost, the optimized model is provided and finds that the feeder ships have better performance on economic cost whether sailing in ECA accordingly with the carbon tax less than 190 USD/tons. The proposed optimization method can well reduce the shipping cost and get better emission performance when choosing the arctic shipping route. And the results also can improve the shipping company's revenues and maintain environmental sustainability.