Energy efficiency decision and selection of main engines in a sustainable shipbuilding supply chain

- The question of how to improve sustainability in a shipbuilding supply chain is analyzed.
- The supply chain strategies can be purposively chosen to improve the sustainability.
- For better environment performance, technological innovations should be addressed.
- Supply chain coordination leads to the best environment performance and the highest consumer surplus.

For the improvement of sustainability in a shipbuilding supply chain, we first analyze the decisions on the energy efficiency of main engines (EEME) and the price of the shipbuilding service. Then, objective functions are developed for the portfolio selection of main engines according to different supply chain strategies. Furthermore, experimental analysis is conducted to make observations and illustrate some related issues. The results suggest that technological innovations should be advocated to reduce the fixed costs for effective improvements of the EEME. When supply chain coordination is realized, the best environment performance and the highest consumer surplus can be achieved.