Navieras deciden bajar velocidad a sus naves.

Dados los bajos ingresos , las navieras estan optando por tiempos de transito mas lentos y un menor consumo de combustible, aunque signifique agregar barcos a la flota, como es sabido el 10% de la flota esta sin uso por lo que su valor tiende a cero.


Eivind Kolding : Slow steaming here to stay
30 Oct 09 - Slow steaming is here to stay and container jumbos that even surpass Maersk Line’s giant 15,200 teu E-class units might ply the oceans’ trunk routes in the next decade. These are two of the most interesting aspects of Eivind Kolding’s view of the liner industry’s future. The Maersk Line CEO described his market outlook in an interview with ‘Nieuwsblad Transport’, published in today’s edition of the Rotterdam-based transport and logistics paper.

Mr Kolding said that the environmental benefits of slow-steaming, which add to the fuel economies, would gain greater importance in the future. Thus, he assumes that some form of slow steaming will remain the rule, even after the present economic crisis, when transportation demand picks up again. Mr Kolding added that the moderately longer transit times caused by ships sailing at eco speeds have proven not to be a problem so far: ‘One or two extra days do not have a negative impact on the established logistics chains’, Kolding explained.

In the Nieuwsblad Transport interview, the Maersk Line CEO also revealed that he could imagine employing even larger ships than the present-day E-class units. ‘Such vessels will surely not be needed in the next five years or so, but they remain an option for later in time’, Kolding said. Since high top speeds are no longer essentially needed, the size of vessels that can be powered with a single engine and propeller –the current most economic power train– would automatically rise. Mr Kolding however admitted that the issue of larger ships was ‘a bit speculative’.

(Source : Nieuwsblad Transport / Alphaliner)