Title

Making Geosense of Transportation, Trade, Environment, and Energy: indicators, impacts, and opportunities for international shipping

Time

1:40 - 3:00pm

Location

1605 Tilia, Room 1103, West Village

Abstract

Transportation has been called one of the four cornerstones of globalization, along with communication, international standardization, and trade liberalization. International markets for goods only exist because transportation allows trading to occur efficiently, and international maritime shipping has been an important engine of international trade growth. Shipping and other international transport providers also identify themselves as a cross-sectoral link in a global supply network that must adapt to emerging constraints related to energy supply, the environment, and economics. Responding to strong market signals and adopting technological innovations, the maritime industry transformed its technologies, national registries, and labor
resources over the past decades to serve the demands of globalization. International policy developments are directly addressing the movement of goods by ships for both environmental and security concerns.

This presentation will overview how international shipping networks and technologies are transforming in response to 21st Century stewardship priorities, from exhaust emissions to invasive species. One focus for discussion will be energy efficiency and emissions reduction. Potential energy efficiencies across scales presents one context that requires consideration of unit systems, networked systems, and systems of systems. A fully loaded container box, a fully utilized vessel on a voyage with a backhaul payload, an agile multimodal delivery system, multi-point warehousing and prepositioning of merchandize. Supply chain network structures can leverage or exceed energy saving from advanced power-trains, alternative fuels, and integrated vehicle designs. With focus on marine fuel transitions, a discussion of the opportunity for LNG, related drivers changing the future of fuel refining, will explore potential for volatile, multi-year transition to a new regime for transport fuels.

Biographical Sketch

Dr. Corbett is focused on technology policy innovation for 21st Century freight systems, including international shipping and coastal marine policy. He has more than 20 years’ experience providing engineering services, technology assessments, and policy studies to industry, government, and other organizations. Dr. Corbett is a Professor in the College of Earth Ocean and Environment with joint appointment in Civil and Environmental Engineering in the College of Engineering and in the School of Public Policy and Administration in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Delaware. A California Maritime Academy graduate and 1985 Corps of Cadets Commander, he received his Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy (EPP) from Carnegie Mellon University, also earning M.S. degrees in the departments of EPP and Mechanical Engineering. Dr. Corbett was a lead author of seminal studies evaluating international shipping’s role in reducing pollution impacts, addressing climate change goals, and protecting marine ecosystems, including reports for the International Maritime Organization, U.S. EPA, and State of California. Among more than 175 publications related to freight and multimodal transportation, Dr. Corbett coauthored the 2000 IMO Study on Greenhouse Gases from Ships, the Second IMO Greenhouse Gas Study 2009, and the IMO Greenhouse Gas Study 2014.