Operations Research, Systems Engineering and Industrial Engineering Commons^™

Reducing Carbon Emission Of Ocean Shipments By Optimizing Container Size Selection, Edwin Lik Ming Chong, Nang Laik Ma, Kar Way Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Human’s impact on earth through global warming is more or less an accepted fact. Ocean freight is estimated to contribute 4-5% of global carbon emissions and manufacturing companies can aid in reducing this amount. Many companies that ship goods through full container loads do not have the capabilities to ensure the containers they are using minimizes their carbon footprint. One of the reasons is the choice of non-ideal container sizes for their shipments. This paper provides a mathematical model to minimize companies’ shipping carbon footprints by selecting the ideal container sizes appropriate for their shipment volumes. Using data from a …