The expansion of the cruise industry has intensified safety concerns, particularly especially for emergency evacuations on ever larger and more complex vessels. While traditional evacuation methods rely on static signage and pre-planned procedures, past incidents have shown these tools to be insufficient in dynamic and unpredictable crises.

Recent advances in wireless communication, especially sensor mesh networks, now enable reliable real-time data exchange on board, creating opportunities to integrate operations research (OR) techniques into evacuation management. 

This thesis addresses the gap between static evacuation planning and the need for reactive, data-driven guidance systems. It does so through three interconnected studies.  

Paper I proposes a framework that divides evacuation management into two stages: initial lifeboat assignment and active passenger guidance. This work emphasizes the role of OR in optimizing lifeboat allocation and highlights the lack of prior research addressing these problems in a maritime context. 

Building on this, Paper II examines congestion management in time-expanded networks. By introducing an iterative algorithm inspired by the network simplex method, the study demonstrates how passenger flows and congestion interact dynamically, reshaping evacuation patterns. The results show that this approach provides a computationally efficient foundation for real-time guidance, though the reliance on discrete modeling underscores the potential value of more continuous representations. 

Paper III advances the research further by developing a computationally efficient real-time guidance method. Using a time-dependent Dijkstra algorithm and incremental optimization, the study enables congestion-aware routing without relying on extensive precomputed structures. This approach ensures that evacuation plans remain both stable and adaptable, as small disruptions can be addressed with proportionally small adjustments. 

Together, the findings highlight both the feasibility and importance of shifting from static procedures toward dynamic, responsive systems that enhance passenger safety during onboard emergencies.