When container shipping lines experience over-capacity and high fuel costs, they typically respond by decreasing sailing speeds and, consequently, increasing transport time. Most of the literature on this phenomenon, often referred to as slow-steaming, takes the perspective of the shipping lines addressing technical, operational and financial effects, or a society perspective focusing on lower emissions and energy use. Few studies investigate the effects on the demand side of the market for container liner shipping. Hence, the aim of this study is to elaborate on the logistics consequences of slow-steaming, particularly the strategies that Swedish shippers purchasing deep sea container transport services employ to mitigate the effects of slow-steaming. Workshops and semi-structured interviews revealed that shippers felt they had little or no impact on sailing schedules and were more or less subject to container shipping lines’ decisions. The effects of slow-steaming were obviously most severe for firms with complex supply chains, where intermediate products are sent back and forth between production stages on different continents. The shippers developed a set of strategies to cope with the low punctuality of containerised shipping, and these were categorised in the domains of transfer-the-problem, transport, sourcing and distribution, logistics and manufacturing, and product design. All firms applied changes in the transport domain, although the lack of service segmentation limited the effects of the strategy. Most measures were applied by two firms, whereas only one firm changed the product design.

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.

Ett effektivare transportsystem är en nödvändighet för Sveriges omställningen till världens första fossilfria välfärdsnation. Effektivisering av transportsystemet bidrar inte bara till avfossilisering av en sektor som svarar för en stor andel av de fossila utsläppen i Sverige. Det möjliggör också en minskning av utsläpp i konsumtion- och produktionsledet genom att skapa förutsättningar för cirkulär ekonomi. Det saknas dock kunskap om hur en ökad cirkulär ekonomi kan komma att påverka transportefterfrågan och följaktligen transportsystemet. På en övergripande nivå kan man anta att de cirkulära flödena kommer gå i motsatt riktning flöden av nya material och produkter och att tidskrav inte är lika höga för de cirkulära flödena som för flöden av nya material och produkter. Samtidig uppskattar man att ca. en av fyra lastbilar är underutnyttjade eller kan betraktas som tomma. Med detta som bakgrund är det intressant att analysera förutsättningarna för att den transportefterfrågan som uppstår som resultat av den cirkulära ekonomin effektivt kan absorberas av överkapaciteten i det befintliga transportsystemet. I denna förstudie har VTI och CIT undersökt denna frågeställning. Projektet bygger på litteraturstudier, intervjuer, workshops samt modellresultat från den nationella godstransportmodellen Samgods. I projektet har fokus legat på fyra produktområden: byggmaterial, elektronikprodukter, textilier och personbilar. Branschaktörer såsom byggföretag, elektronikföretag, textilföretag, biltillverkare, avfallshanterare, återvinningsföretag, branschorganisationer, välgörenhetsorganisationer och forskare har bidragit i genomförandet av projektet.

There are reasons to question previous research literature regarding estimates of how much port call optimization can contribute to energy efficiency. Specifically, the potential of Virtual Arrival (VA), i.e., a system where ships would be able to reduce their speed in advance of a port call, in response to a known delay, in order to reduce or completely eliminate waiting time at anchor. In this study, we seek to estimate the maximum technically feasible energy efficiency potential of VA for Swedish tramp shipping. Operational, business, contractual or other circumstances may lead to portions of the technical potential not being considered realizable. We also seek to estimate the realizable energy efficiency potential of VA. 

The estimate of the technical potential is based on empirical data from 2019. Traffic data from the AIS, ship data from IHS Markit, port call data from the Swedish Maritime Administration and Eurostat’s distance matrix for ports have been used for the estimate of the maximum technically feasible energy efficiency potential. The calculation models that underpin the estimates are based on accepted models and are calibrated with better substantiated assumptions than in previous studies. The estimate of the realizable potential is based on a Delphi study in which experts from the stakeholder categories shipowners, ports and shipbrokers have been included. 

The results show that previous estimates overestimate the potential of VA for energy efficiency in the Swedish tramp shipping. The maximum technically feasible energy efficiency potential is significantly lower than previously believed. This is due to several factors such as the fact that a relatively small percentage of the port calls (approx. 15%) have any waiting time at anchor at all and of these a large percentage (approx. 40%) are already sailing so slowly that reduced sailing speed would not lead to a reduction in fuel consumption. Also, model assumptions in previous studies have tended to mechanically overestimate the technical potential. The Delphi study shows that approx. one fifth of the maximum technically feasible energy efficiency potential can be considered realizable in a Swedish context.

I den här förstudiens illustrerar vi en modelleringsansats för att studera vilka logistiska konsekvenser olika teknikval för elektrifiering av det svenska godstransportsystemet innebär för produktionssystemet av transporttjänster. Förstudien illustrerar hur den valda metodiken möjliggör kostnadseffektiv och ändamålsenliga dynamiska analyser av tänkbara utvecklingsscenarion som bidrar till en kunskapsutveckling som underlättar hanteringen av effekterna avgörande osäkerheter som följer en snabb omställningsprocess.

Kombinationen av att kunna beskriva och analyserna olika systemdesign, beskriva och förklara systemdynamiken givet stora osäkerheter och komplexitet samt möjlighet att testa och utvärdera potentiella lösningar på identifierade oönskade effekter gör att den här modelleringsansatsen är särskild väl lämpad för det frågebatteri som har identifierats som intressant att studera i en huvudstudie. Förstudiens resultat nyttiggörs effektivast genom uppskalning och vidare utveckling i en huvudstudie så den aktuella modellen är framtagen i ett illustrativt syfte.

The objective of this study is to contribute to an energy-efficient transport system by presenting a new approach for analysis of energy use which could be a complement to conventional decision support systems. Energy use in the transport sector is a central aspect to consider in order to meet national goals of reduced climate impact. This study presents a method for estimating minimal energy use in a goods transport system from a national system perspective. In this study, this problem is defined as the Minimum Energy Problem (MEP). The purpose is to describe a method for MEP and apply the method for an analysis of the Swedish goods transport system. Study of MEP gives an estimation of a theoretical potential for reduced energy use in the goods transport system and a reference for evaluations of different types of measures. 

The basic idea is to use a national freight model as an optimisation tool by replacing cost parameters with parameter values for energy use and CO2 emissions. The principle means that an existing model can be reused. The method is applied for analysis of the Swedish goods transport system by using Samgods. Samgods is the Swedish national freight model, owned by the Swedish Transport Administration, and used for analyses of the goods transport system to give decision basis for e.g., infrastructure investments, policy changes and long-term forecasts. 

The Swedish goods transport system is studied with respect to scenarios for minimal energy use with a focus on today’s existing infrastructure, vehicles and transport demand, as specified in Samgods. The results are compared with cost-minimisation scenarios which could be assumed to simulate the goods transport system in practice. Scenarios could be used to analyse system effects of different measures. The general applicability of the proposed methodology is illustrated by scenario analyses representing changed conditions for road transport and a case of minimization with respect to carbon dioxide emissions.

Swedish e-grocery undergoes a strong development and is becoming well-established. E-commerce gives increased accessibility and services for consumers but, at the same time, new logistics challenges for companies. At present, several companies are presenting large investments. Since the market is growing, there are possibilities to develop logistics systems that could contribute to a sustainable e-commerce.

The overall purpose of this report is to contribute to energy-efficient e-grocery by decreased energy use for transport. New knowledge in the following two areas are presented: 1) Grocery distribution systems 2) Consumer perspective on e-commerce and grocery shopping trips. The methods used are literature studies, interviews with 21 organizations and companies in the grocery market, a survey with 3 000 consumers and two workshops with researchers, food producers, grocery retailers and logistics and transport players. This study focuses on major players in the grocery trade that offer full range assortment and consumers living in medium-sized and larger cities.

A well-developed port infrastructure is a prerequisite for Swedish industry as well as for a sustainable transport system. Despite this, the knowledge of how the port infrastructure satisfies society's needs today, and in the future, is underdeveloped. In this pre-study the needs of various stakeholders are mapped, and trends and future transport demand are analyzed in terms of how they may affect Sweden's ports. More specifically, twenty-four interviews have been conducted with ports, manufacturing companies, shipping companies, freight forwarders, terminal operators, port authorities, and municipalities. We have also reviewed the reason for the strong freight development for shipping in the Swedish Transport Administration's forecasts of freight volumes in 2040 by looking at output data to see how these are distributed among different product groups and ports.

E-commerce of groceries brings increased service and availability for consumers, but also challenges for companies that need to adapt their logistics systems to new market needs. Above all, it is the last mile, i.e., the distance from the time orders are picked until they are delivered to the consumer or delivery point, that is affected by increasing e-commerce. Today, these transports are not efficient, neither from a cost perspective nor from an energy-efficiency perspective. 

The purpose of the feasibility study “Energy-efficient last-mile distribution of groceries through new collaboration models” (ELLA) is to generate new knowledge for the development of logistics solutions that enable energy-efficient last-mile transports in different contexts. Methods used are literature studies, interview studies with nineteen organizations and companies in the grocery sector as well as a workshop with grocery retailers, box suppliers, transporters and researchers. 

The report identifies nine logistics solutions with great energy-efficiency potential that were categorized into three main groups; 1) transport (i.e. how the transport is organized), 2) delivery (i.e. how the delivery takes place), and 3) vehicle (i.e. which vehicle is used in the delivery). 

The logistics solutions that are viewed in more detail are: Groupage, micro-terminals, service level adjustments, standardized packaging, delivery point at high-traffic locations, cargo bike, electric truck and “ice cream” truck. The nine logistics solutions have been evaluated using various measures of energy efficiency such as load capacity, degree of filling, km/stop, stop/route and CO2 emissions. The logistics solutions have also been analyzed based on which contexts they are suitable to use in and which actors are needed to implement the solution. 

The promise of Port Call Optimization (PCO) measures such as Virtual Arrival (VA) for increased fuel efficiency in shipping is emphasized in the literature and professional ranks alike. Despite their envisioned benefits and feasibility, the implementation of such measures has largely remained lacking. Recent studies indicate that the potential of VA on fuel efficiency might be overestimated. In this paper we propose a new approach to estimate the fuel efficiency potential of VA based on traffic data from the Swedish tramp shipping sector. Our results indicate that the feasible fuel efficiency potential of VA is significantly smaller than what has previously been reported with no discernible benefit to large cohorts of voyages. We conclude that further empirical analyses are required for increased accuracy of the estimation of the potential of PCO for increased fuel efficiency in shipping and that more measured approaches in implementation and evaluation of PCO are called for.