Optimal planning of an urban ferry service operated with zero emission technology

While passenger-only ferries can be an effective instrument in mitigating road congestion in urban areas, they are among the most polluting modes of transportation. This paper studies technical and economic feasibilities of a battery-powered high-speed ferry service in Oslo, Norway. An urban ferry planner problem that minimizes ferry operator and passenger costs and external costs of road transport subject to strategic (fleet selection and infrastructure location), tactical (service frequency) and operational (vessel speed) decisions is proposed. While the results show that zero emission technologies can pass the cost-benefit test for a short-range service, competitiveness hinges on energy costs and capacities and on the performance of the existing service. Counterfactual scenarios show substantial cost reductions from altering the current ferry route. Anticipated increase in external costs of road transport from closing the ferry service is also much smaller than the system costs of maintaining the urban ferry connection.