Edinburgh Napier University

  This paper proposes a joint optimal design for speed and routing in maritime transportation systems with quantum optimization, which will play a crucial role in global trade and logistics. Efficient maritime transportation design is essential for reducing operational costs, minimizing environmental impact, and enhancing overall fleet performance. In this context, we formulate a cost minimization problem that accounts for key factors such as fuel consumption, ship payload, and sailing speed. The optimization problem is modeled as a mixed-integer programming, which is NP-hard and computationally challenging to solve using classical methods. To address this challenge, we propose an alternating optimization (AO) framework, which comprises a quantum-centric optimization approach for determining optimal routing decisions and a closed form solution for maintaining speed control. Numerical results are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed quantum optimization solution with a clear convergence pattern and reduced costs compared to benchmark schemes.