Due to the increasing pressure from stricter environmental regulations to reduce emissions in shipping, the maritime industry has been striving for finding more effective measures. Existing measures are often not enough to comply with new regulations. Among various alternative measures, it is not easy for decision-makers (shipowners and operators) to choose the most suitable alternative measure as it involves with multi-criteria decision-making where the prioritization of a number of alternatives vis-à-vis multiple criteria evaluation is undertaken. Further challenges on such analysis are the lack of information as well as its subjectivity and/or the inconsistency. This study proposes an integrative fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making method that combines fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) for the selection of technological alternatives for regulatory compliance under vague environment. Nine criteria within three sustainability aspects (social, economic and environmental aspects) were analysed and evaluated as regards four possible alternatives. The weights of these aspects and criteria were determined by the fuzzy AHP; meanwhile, alternatives were prioritized by the fuzzy TOPSIS. According to the outputs of the proposed decision-making framework, the study revealed that low-sulphur fuels are the best suitable alternative for regulatory compliance. The following alternatives are methanol, scrubbers and liquefied natural gas in order. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to tell us that the proposed framework is robust. This proposed method will be potentially applicable to other fields where decisions are required to make under vague information conditions.

中文翻译：

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选择符合法规的技术替代方案以减少航运排放：模糊环境下的综合模糊多标准决策方法

由于更严格的环境法规对减少航运排放的压力越来越大，海运业一直在努力寻找更有效的措施。现有措施往往不足以遵守新规定。在各种替代措施中，决策者（船东和运营商）选择最合适的替代措施并不容易，因为它涉及多标准决策，其中多个替代方案相对于多个标准进行优先排序进行评估。这种分析的进一步挑战是缺乏信息及其主观性和/或不一致。本研究提出了一种综合模糊多准则决策方法，该方法结合了模糊层次分析法（AHP）和通过相似于理想解决方案的订单性能模糊技术（TOPSIS），用于选择模糊环境下法规遵从性的技术替代方案。分析和评估了三个可持续性方面（社会、经济和环境方面）内的九项标准，并就四种可能的替代方案进行了评估。这些方面和标准的权重由模糊层次分析法确定；同时，备选方案通过模糊 TOPSIS 进行优先排序。根据拟议决策框架的结果，该研究表明，低硫燃料是符合法规要求的最佳替代品。以下替代品是甲醇，洗涤器和液化天然气。进行了敏感性分析以告诉我们所提出的框架是稳健的。这种提议的方法可能适用于需要在模糊信息条件下做出决策的其他领域。