Slow steaming - is it win-win?

After a week of meetings in London at the International Maritime Organisation, IMO, the Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) and the IMO have failed to get agreement on reducing the shipping industry's levels of carbon emissions.

Shipping accounts for an estimated 3% of the world's carbon emissions and it was hoped an agreement on reducing greenhouse gases, (GHGs), would be reached ahead of the next UN Framework Convention on Climate Change which starts today in China.

Emissions from the industry sector in general are not covered by the Kyoto Protocol and there are currently no mandatory measures in place. The challenge is to develop a strategy and measures that will regulate GHGs, including CO2 emissions, from shipping.

The current economic climate of overcapacity in shipping has led to one such strategy called slow steaming.  A cargo ship can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and fuel costs by slowing down. John Vidal from The Observer wrote that today's container ships are "travelling at lower speeds....than sailing clippers such as the Cutty Sark". The historic ship, Cutty Sark, was built in 1869 as a merchant vessel for the tea trade. The ship was expressly designed to 'outsail' Thermopylae, a composite clipper built  the year before, which had the fastest trip to Melbourne under sail on record. Cutty Sark's best run, 360 nautical miles in 24 hours averaging a speed of 15kn was said to be the fastest of any ship of the same size....in the end however, the clippers lost out to more reliable steamships and the opening of the Suez Canal.

Maersk spokesman Bo Cerup-Simonsen said "The cost benefits are clear. When speed is reduced by 20%, fuel consumption is reduced by 40% per nautical mile. Slow steaming is here to stay. Its introduction has been the most important factor of reducing our CO2 emissions in recent years, and we have not yet realised the full potential."

Current estimates are that by 2050 CO2 emissions from the shipping industry could increase by up to 30%. As approximately 90% of global trade is moved by sea the pressure is on to find energy efficient alternatives.

The debate, in early stages compared to road transportation and the airline industry, is one to watch.  Global trade is set to grow in volume and the impact of shipping on the environment is becoming an increasingly major challenge.