The Green Ship Routing and Scheduling Problem (GSRSP): A conceptual approach

• Outlines ways to incorporate the emissions dimension into maritime transportation OR.
• The approaches presented can be easily used in existing formulation.
• Focuses on an area of paramount importance for shipping.
• Clarifies important issues as regards estimating fuel consumption and emissions.

Recent reviews of the literature on ship routing and scheduling note the increased attention to environmental issues. This is an area of paramount importance for international shipping and will be even more so in the future. This short communication is motivated by the increasing attention to ‘green’ routing and scheduling and outlines some possible ways to incorporate the air emissions dimension into maritime transportation OR. The main contribution of this note vis-a-vis the state of the art is that it conceptualizes the formulation of the ‘Green Ship Routing and Scheduling Problem’ (GSRSP) based on existing formulations and highlights all the important parameters of the problem.