# Multicriteria Analysis of Alternative Marine Fuels in Sustainable Coastal Marine Traffic
## 5 Discussion and Conclusions  
The problem of selecting the best solution during the selection of alternative marine fuels is very complex since all criteria and conditions, which include geographical, ecological, economic, technical, technological, and social aspects, should be thoroughly considered. In this paper, an approach for selection of alternative marine fuel as a measure for mitigation of environmental impact for the case study of Croatia is presented. The selection process \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c} \hline \hline  & **Shipowners** & **Government** & **Academia** \\ \hline
**Electric** & 0.9571 & 0.8743 & 0.8857 \\
**Hydrogen** & 0.7384 & 0.8227 & 0.8776 \\
**Biofuel** & 0.7145 & 0.7144 & 0.6754 \\
**LNG** & 0.7126 & 0.8514 & 0.7339 \\
**LPG** & 0.7763 & 0.8416 & 0.7199 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 8: Final ranking of the alternatives. was performed using a multicriteria approach with different objectives and criteria used for the evaluation of the alternatives. Defining the importance of each objective group and giving the appropriate weighting of the criteria representing the supporting sub-objectives for the selection of alternative marine fuel were done on the basis of the information obtained from three groups of stakeholders (shipowners, government, and academia). Furthermore, participants evaluated the performance of each alternative in relation to each criterion. The priority ranking of alternatives was based on the combination of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Simple Additive Weighting (SAW), resulting in a final ranking of all alternatives, whereby electric propulsion was considered the best option among all stakeholders. Although the evaluation process showed significant differences, the final result of the analysis showed a common agreement between the stakeholders about the best alternative. It is important to note that all participants that took part in the decision-making process were introduced with the limitations of the methodology before expressing their attitudes and opinions. Mutual consent and approval of the stakeholders' different attitudes is crucial in this kind of analyses, since it guarantees the acceptance of the compromise results between all stakeholders. By applying the proposed concept, a holistic approach is applied in the decision-making process by involving different stakeholders in policy making while avoiding potential conflicts. The proposed methodology was validated by showing the possibility of its application on a real example and obtaining a compromise solution accepted by all involved stakeholders. The robustness of the multicriteria analysis allows any changes to be implemented and evaluated, according to particular stakeholders' requirements and preferences. Furthermore, due to different changing conditions in the future, the importance of some criteria could be modified as well. For instance, fuel price, which is marked as the most important criterion by the shipowners and the government, might change due to different conditions (market conditions, competitors, or legal framework), and this methodology allows such changes to be easily implemented in the decision-support framework. It is of genuine importance to emphasize that switching to alternative fuels (except LNG) would have impact on the rapid rise in demand; i.e., a massive investment in production capacity will be required. Theoretically, since the current LNG production is higher than the shipping industry's energy requirement and the share of LNG in the total gas market is only 10%, a switchover of the entire global fleet to LNG would be possible. Additionally, the energy need of the global fleet could be covered by LPG; but, in this case, no LPG would be left for other industrial sectors and users [44]. In this context, from the government point of view, the interactions of different fuels with other industrial sectors should be taken into consideration.