Commercial ships spend between 4% and 6% of their operating year waiting outside ports. That idle time is one of the clearest inefficiencies in shipping, and a combination of slower sailing speeds and port call optimisation can reduce the emissions and fuel currently wasted as ships await an available berth.

Instead of sailing fast only to then wait at anchor, port call optimisation allows a ship to arrive when its berth is ready. The voyage takes the same time, no extra vessels are needed, and less fuel is burned.

Cargill Ocean Transportation set out to test the fuel and emissions savings of combining slower sailing speeds with port call optimisation in live commercial operations. With pilot projects at two Australian ports and one in Brazil, the company tested three different mechanisms across 16 voyages and found that the combination can deliver meaningful emissions savings across a range of operational and commercial settings.

The findings of the pilots are the subject of a new Global Maritime Forum report, ‘Turning waiting time into savings: Lessons from Cargill’s port call optimisation pilot’. Detailing the pilot projects at the Port of Albany and the Port of Newcastle in Australia, and at Cargill’s grain export terminal in Santarém, Brazil, the report explores the interdependent relationship between port call optimisation and speed reduction.