Maersk Line Says Slow Steaming Will Continue as "We Want to be as Energy-Efficient as Possible"

The company said its  new containerships larger than 14,000 TEU were designed to slow steam

Maersk Line will continue to slow-steam because it wants to be "as energy-efficient as possible," CEO Søren Skou said in last week's 2014 financial report. 

“The bunker price may rebound, in which case a network designed for higher speed would be very uncompetitive," he said.

"Moreover, we want to be as energy-efficient as possible, limiting emissions as much as we can."

Maersk Line said it is currently aiming to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent between 2007 and 2020. 

Over the past five years, the company has been adding vessels to its fleet in order to slow-steam, with the number of ships on the Asia-Europe route rising to 11 per service from nine.

"We have not achieved the full potential of slow steaming," Maersk Line said, adding that 11 vessels is optimal on the route when bunker prices are at $300 per metric tonne.  

In addition, changing the speeds for all 193 vessels on the East-West network would be "costly and complex," and would involve terminating and renegotiating a variety of agreements, along with finding alternatives for freed-up vessels. 

The company also said that its new containerships larger than 14,000 TEU were designed and built for slow steaming. 

"They are not able to reach the high speeds seen before 2008," the company said. 

Port productivity also hasn't risen in tandem with vessel sizes, and on an Asia-Europe round-trip the average time spent in port  for one vessel in now 18 days, up from 12 days in 2007.

In January Skou said that a move away from slowing ships would require a fundamental change to the company's network.