An Agent-Based Simulator for Maritime Transport Decarbonisation.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction is an important and necessary goal; currently, different policies to reduce GHG emissions in maritime transport are being discussed. Amongst policies, like carbon taxes or carbon intensity targets, it is hard to determine which policies can successfully reduce GHG emissions while allowing the industry to be profitable. We introduce an agent-based maritime transport simulator to investigate the effectiveness of two decarbonisation policies by simulating a maritime transport operator's trade pattern and fleet make-up changes as a reaction to taxation and fixed targets. This first of its kind simulator allows to compare and quantify the difference of carbon reduction policies and how they affect shipping operations.