[EN-SEA] "Maersk" Taking Slow Steaming All The Way

(NEW YORK) It took more than a month for the containership Ebba Maersk to steam from Germany to Guangdong, China, where it unloaded cargo on a recent Friday - a week longer than it did two years ago.

But for the owner, the Danish shipping giant Maersk, that counts as progress.

In a global culture dominated by speed, from overnight package delivery to bullet trains to fast-cash withdrawals, the company has seized on a sales pitch that may startle some hard-driving corporate customers: Slow is better.

By halving its top cruising speed over the last two years, Maersk cut fuel consumption on major routes by as much as 30 per cent, greatly reducing costs. But the company also achieved an equal cut in the ships' emissions of greenhouse gases.

'The previous focus has been on 'What will it cost?' and 'Get it to me as fast as possible',' said Soren Stig Nielsen, Maersk director of environmental sustainability, who noted that the practice began in 2008, when oil prices jumped to US$145 a barrel.

'But now there is a third dimension. What's the carbon footprint?'

Travelling more slowly, he added, is 'a great opportunity' to lower emissions 'without a quantum leap in innovation'.

Slowing down from high speeds reduces emissions because it reduces drag and friction as ships plough through the water.

Transport emission has soared in the past three decades as global trade has grown by leaps and bounds, especially long-haul shipments of goods from Asia, causing the containership trade to grow eightfold between 1985 and 2007.

The mantra was 'Need it now'. But the result is that planes, ships, cars and trucks all often travel at speeds far above maximum fuel efficiency. Of course, mile per mile, shipping even at conventional speeds is far more efficient than road travel. Shipping a tonne of toys from Shanghai to northern Germany churns out less emission than trucking them south to Berlin afterwards.

Some carriers initially resisted the idea of slowing down, arguing that speed was indispensable to serving their clients. Today, more than 220 vessels are practising 'slow steaming' - cruising at 20 knots on open water instead of the standard 24 or 25 - or, like Maersk's vessels, 'super slow steaming' (12 knots).

Many companies find that the practice allows them to cut prices in an ever more competitive market, even at a time when oil prices hover around US$80 a barrel. Yet, in shifting hundreds more ships to its slow steaming programme last year, Maersk considered itself prescient: It is convinced that a carbon tax or tighter shipping rules are on the horizon due to several concerns.

Any rise in fuel prices or taxes would enhance the appeal of slow steaming.

Slowing speeds is a good idea, said David Bonilla, senior research fellow at the transport studies unit at Oxford University's School of Geography and the Environment.

But he maintains that it cannot on its own arrest the emission growth resulting from today's trade patterns, in which vast amounts of goods are produced in Asia but consumed in Europe or the United States.

To make a difference, he said, fuel costs for long-distance shipping must rise to the point where carriers are forced to invest in new, far more efficient boats or shift to shorter routes.

In addition, Maersk had to prove that slow speeds would not damage ship engines in order to maintain engine warranties that did not cover such slow travel.

Customers have to factor in extra time for delivery, which can be problematic for time-sensitive products such as fashion or electronics, said Philip Damas of Drewry Shipping.

Maersk has also shouldered the labour costs of having crews at sea for longer periods and added two ships on its Germany to China route to maintain scheduled deliveries. But those expenses were cancelled out by decreased fuel costs, it said.

Now Maersk is working with customers in the hopes of slowing more boats and contemplating charging customers variable rates, depending on speed.

Source : NYT-Business Times, 19.02.10.