Abstract Speed control in inland water systems needs to achieve effective balance between ship operational efficiency and transport safety. However, speed limit regulations are largely formulated through expert judgment rather than objective evidence-based evaluation, which sometimes leads to inefficiency due to subjective bias. In this study, a new method is proposed to evaluate the performance of shipping traffic under current speed limits by using the automatic identification system (AIS) big data of 4923 ships in the Shanghai section of the Yangtze River in China. The key elements of this method include data acquisition, error elimination, combination of ship AIS and waterway geocoded data to model traffic flow characteristics, and estimation of the correlation between ship speed and congestion level. Shipping traffic performance in different segments is analyzed. Results reveal that the overall compliance to the speed limit is high, and only a few over-speeding cases are noted in certain segments. Furthermore, we use a normal distribution to model the correlation between ship speed and traffic volume. The findings indicate that the current speed limit in the Shanghai section of Yangtze River is rational. This work provides useful insights into testing the rationality of speed limits in other waterways or shipping channels.

中文翻译：

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使用 AIS 数据评估具有速度控制的船舶交通性能

摘要 内河水系航速控制需要实现船舶作业效率与运输安全的有效平衡。然而，限速规定主要是通过专家判断而非客观的循证评估来制定的，这有时会因主观偏见而导致效率低下。本研究利用长江上海段4923艘船舶的自动识别系统（AIS）大数据，提出了一种评估当前限速下航运性能的新方法。该方法的关键要素包括数据采集、误差消除、结合船舶 AIS 和航道地理编码数据以模拟交通流特征，以及估计船舶速度与拥堵程度之间的相关性。分析了不同细分市场的航运流量表现。结果显示，对速度限制的总体遵守情况很高，并且在某些路段中仅注意到少数超速情况。此外，我们使用正态分布来模拟船速和交通量之间的相关性。调查结果表明，目前长江上海段限速是合理的。这项工作为测试其他水道或航运渠道的速度限制的合理性提供了有用的见解。调查结果表明，目前长江上海段限速是合理的。这项工作为测试其他水道或航运渠道的速度限制的合理性提供了有用的见解。调查结果表明，目前长江上海段限速是合理的。这项工作为测试其他水道或航运渠道的速度限制的合理性提供了有用的见解。