Slow steaming will stay
for economic and environmental reasons

Shanghai, 4 December 2009 - At Marintec China, ship classification society Germanischer Lloyd (GL) reinforced the necessity to reduce speed on long-haul, transpacific and/or Far East/Europe container services given the market situation and new environmental restrictions.

GL Executive Board Member Dr Hermann J. Klein praised COSCO Shipping Lines for announcing "super slow steaming" as an excellent initiative to cut overcapacity and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Slow steaming is one of the most obvious ways to achieve CO2 reductions. The benefits of slow steaming in container trades are lower fuel consumption, less operation costs, reduced maintenance requirements and a much better environmental balance sheet.

All big international container lines are considering slow steaming as a tool to cut overcapacity and reduce operating costs within their respective fleets. Some have already cut the average speed from 26 knots to 18 knots or even 14 knots. Current market conditions, less demand and surplus of container vessels have brought down the optimum speed for box ships. GL predicts that a speed of approximately 14 knots will become the norm for container vessels with some premium-priced high-speed services to carry time-sensitive cargo.

Dr Klein declared "COSCO is a good example how a shipping line uses super-slow steaming in order to respond to less transportation demand, cut fuel bills, reduce emissions and overcapacity in the box trades."

Just recently, Captain Jiafu Wei of COSCO reported that the group had tested the approach on lines between Asia and Europe. The results are so promising that super-slow steaming will be imposed for the rest of the fleet.

Slow steaming will imply profound changes to the container shipping industry. More ships will be needed. It will also mean 'just in time' orders will need to be placed just a bit earlier, with implications for the shipping and logistics sectors.

Less seaborne related emissions will substantially reinforce the image of shipping as the most environmentally friendly mode of transportation. The issue of reducing CO2 emissions from ships is an important topic at the UNFCC in Copenhagen.

Germanischer Lloyd press release