More speed reductions forecast

Shipping analysts expect container lines to reduce vessels speeds still further as a way of cutting bunker consumption. “According to our analysis, a sailing speed of 21 knots is still far from the optimum,” said Pierre Sames, head of competence engineering for the classification society Germanischer Lloyd. Sames was speaking at a shipping symposium in Hamburg this week and indicated that: “It is unavoidable that we will have to deal with the question of whether to go below 20 knots.”

Hermann Ebel, from German KG finance house Hansa Treuhand, was quoted as saying: “The thrilling question is whether the average speed will remain at 21 knots.”

Ebel predicted that slow steaming was here to stay. “We cannot expect bunker costs to decline considerably.”

There have been warnings that running marine engines at less than full power could cause technical problems but Ebel dismissed the concerns. “We have checked it and it works,” he said. Burkhard Lemper, of Bremen?s Institute for Shipping Economics and Logistics, said slow steaming was helping reduce problems of over-capacity.

“Last year we had a tonnage capacity increase of 14% and growth of container volumes of 11%,” he said. “This gap has been closed by slow steaming.”

Last month South Korea’s two largest box carriers, Hanjin Shipping Co. Ltd and Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., Ltd, became the latest box carriers to announce they would be reducing vessel speeds on some routes to cut bunker consumption.