Moving Containers Efficiently with Less Impact: Modeling and Decision- Support Architecture for Clean Port Technologies

This chapters offers a detailed overview of how the carbon footprint of a typical container (TEU) is calculated and how it can be recalculated to see changes with variables, the primary ones being alternative routing, transportation mode, cost, time. It demonstrates, for example, just how carbon intensive transport is by truck. It notes that the alternative scenarios, (e.g., where a Distribution Center is bypassed completely and the container is delivered directly to the retailer DC) may be preferable from a carbon management point of view, but be logistically difficult to realize given a current manufacturer’s business model, which in turn underscores the utility of a multi-stakeholder scenario planning opportunity. The usefulness of the work for decision makers ultimately rests on seeing the importance of experimenting with scenarios, e.g., comparing status quo and cleaner technology options during the course of developing an integrated carbon management strategy.