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In times of energy transition and global efforts being made toward net zero, maritime transportation with its global fleet operating worldwide plays a key role. However, despite sufficient technology readiness in both ship- and shore-side solutions, bunkering facilities dedicated to green fuels are not widely available in seaports. With massive investments at stake, it is crucial to identify the perspectives of all potential stakeholders and the factors they find relevant for deciding on the location of bunkering infrastructure. Therefore, to select the most suitable location for such a bunkering station, combined Multi-Criteria Decision-Making methods were used along with expert elicitation. The identified criteria were subsequently validated through their application using a case study of Polish seaports. The research was conducted for marine alternative fuels in general as well as for bio-methanol, which was selected by stakeholders as having the highest potential for early implementation. In order to increase the practical application of the results, a model vessel was defined and used to verify the criteria obtained. The results of the case study indicate that the most essential decision-making criterion in both research scenarios is the reliability of the fuel supply chains. Concerning a potential location for launching bunkering stations among considered major Polish seaports is the port of Świnoujście followed by the port of Gdańsk or Szczecin depending on the case study scenario. The results of this study may be considered useful for strategic decision-makers engaged in maritime transportation, fuel supply chains, and environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various endeavors are undertaken by the maritime industry, academia, and policy-makers to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These include the search for feasible technologies that could be used onboard merchant vessels and are propelled by international legal and social initiatives. To this end, this study aimed to critically analyze the research trends pertaining to the active methods of reducing the negative environmental impact of shipping. The research is focused on alternative fuels and renewable energy systems with respect to the related policy-making and existing legal framework. Therefore, a bibliometric approach was applied to a sample of 234 scientific papers indexed in the SCI-EXPANDED in Clarivate Analytics Web of Science Core Collection. The results indicate that the scientific efforts were made more on alternative fuels, while renewable energy sources only recently became a popular research subject. Moreover, the environmental benefits of prospective technologies are more investigated than their financial aspects. The research effort on alternative maritime fuels was made in parallel with the legal one, both aiming to combat global climate change and magnifying each other. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]