Slow steaming of liner trade: its economic and environmental impacts

From 2000s, there have been three forces provoking slow steaming practice in the liner industry: (1) oversupply of shipping capacity, (2) increase of bunker price and (3) environmental pressure. This paper analyses the background and the recent application of slow steaming in liner shipping. The research looks into the questions of how slow steaming can save bunker consumption and bring benefits to the environment. On the other hand, solutions are also examined to the adverse side of slow steaming practice, i.e., how it affects the container transit time. For which, a cost model is developed to demonstrate the impact of slow steaming on the revenue change, with application to the North Europe—Far East Trade as a case study. The final result shows that the optimal speed for the shipowner is correlated with the designed speed, bunker price and the price of CO₂. With the increase of the bunker price and the price of CO₂, the optimal speed will also increase, which means that slow steaming practice has a positive impact on the environmental protection.

• Record URL:
  • https://doi.org/10.1080/03088839.2013.821210
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/oclc/2899960
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Abstract reprinted with permission of Taylor & Francis.
• Authors:
  • Yin, Jingbo
  • Fan, Lixian
  • Yang, Zhongzhen
  • Li, Kevin X
• Publication Date: 2014-2

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Web
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: pp 149-158
• Serial:
  • Maritime Policy & Management
  • Volume: 41
  • Issue Number: 2
  • Publisher: Taylor & Francis
  • ISSN: 0308-8839
  • EISSN: 1464-5254
  • Serial URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tmpm20

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Cost effectiveness; Economic impacts; Environmental impacts; Greenhouse gases; Liner shipping; Speed; Vessel operations
• Subject Areas: Economics; Environment; Freight Transportation; Marine Transportation; I10: Economics and Administration; I15: Environment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01518560
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Mar 20 2014 1:39PM