NOL: Bunker Prices Will Never be Low Enough to Stop Slow Steaming

by Ship & Bunker News Team
Tuesday February 17, 2015

Neptune Orient Lines (NOL) will continue to slow steam for "quite some time" despite bunker prices having halved due to the ongoing low cost of crude, Seatrade Global reports.

“In terms of increasing the speed of vessels across the board purely based on the lower cost of bunker we have no intention to do that," said Kenneth Glenn, president of American President Lines Ltd. (APL), NOL's liner arm.

“We do not see circumstances where we would speed up vessels based on the cost of fuel," he said, adding that he didn't think the price of bunkers would ever be low enough.

The main issue with speeding up vessels, said NOL President and CEO Ng Yat Chung, would be the extra capacity suddenly thrust into the global fleet, which would contribute to ongoing overtonnaging concerns.

“While we are seeing some benefits from the current trend of lower bunker prices, the longer term impact of the drop in fuel price on container freight rates is uncertain," he said. 

NOL also recently reported $260 million in losses for 2014.

Last month Maersk Line said a move away from slow-steaming would require a "fundamental change to the network."