Maersk Line saves fortune on low speed
Maersk Line has been both saving money and sparing the environment from a great deal of CO2 discharges by decreasing the speed. The shipping company has since 2007 been carrying through an experiment where 110 of the company's ships have been sailing at a lower speed than that recommended by the engine manufacturers.
"Slow navigation means that we will achieve full flexibility so the ship can, at any given time, sail at the optimum speed. By doing so, the ships will arrive precisely as scheduled. If they arrive too early they have been using too much fuel and travelling at high speed is expensive", says Ole Graa Jakobsen, senior general manager of technological services at A. P. Moller-Maersk, to RB-Borsen.
Approximately one million dollars a year pr. ship and a ten percent lower emission of CO2 is what has so far come out of the experiment. On top of the environmental and financial benefits of travelling at lower speed, this also helps reduce the supply of container capacity in a time with falling rates.
So far, no one has experimented with speeds under the 21 knots, which is the lowest speed recommended by the engine manufacturers for an average size containership. The manufacturers' recommendations are based on an optimum usage of the engine capacity but Maersk Line's experiment has shown that by only using 10 per cent of the engine capacity, the speed can be reduced to 12 knot without it creating any major problems.
An average Maersk containership (6200 TEU) normally sails at 25 knots but can also, as recommended by manufacturers, go down to 21 knot.
Maersk Line has presented the documentation from the experiment to the largest head-engine manufacturers, who have agreed on the possibility of sailing with 10 per cent usage. The Finnish manufacturer Wärstilä have changed their instructions for the engine and according to LIoyds List, MAN Diesel is expected to follow.
The publication of the documentation may be followed by the realization amongst Maersk Lines' competitors that large amounts of money can be saved by decreasing the speed.
"We have made the decision to share this with our business competitors", says Ole Graa Jakobsen to RB- Borsen.
"One of the reasons is that we also wish to make this saving on the app. 260 ships we charter. The only way for us to do so is to influence the market in general. The other reason is that we do not wish to withhold information about how the entire container trade may save up to 10 percent of the CO2 emission", he says.
Source: maritimedanmark.dk
