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Janet Porter - Monday 21 April 2008
Cosco: part of the CKYH alliance.FOUR powerful Asian container lines have agreed to slow down their ships and eliminate duplicate port calls as part of a wide-ranging programme aimed at slashing record high fuel bills Cosco Container Lines, K Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin Shipping, which co-operate through the CKYH alliance, will be adding a ninth vessel wherever possible to their Asia-Europe services.That will enable ships to lower steaming speeds from 25 knots to about 21.5 knots. The consortium operates eight loops between Asia and northern Europe, of which two covering the longest route from northern China are already run with nine vessels. The network also includes another three strings between Asia and the western Mediterranean, and three to the eastern Mediterranean. Several other lines or alliances have slowed their ships in the Asia-Europe trades as bunker prices hit unprecedented highs, but this is not appropriate on shorter routes as it would be impossible then to maintain weekly schedules. A 10% speed reduction can cut fuel consumption by 30%, and so generate massive savings. The four lines are now looking for additional tonnage to slot into their Asia-Europe rotations. That could include ships redeployed from the Pacific if the quartet decides to reduce capacity there. But if the right units cannot be found, the CKYH alliance is prepared to run some of its Asia-Europe loops at slower speeds with eight ships, and miss one weekly call, said Takafumi Kido, deputy general manager of K Line’s container business group planning team. The determination to save fuel follows a summit meeting of senior staff from the four lines in Japan earlier this month. They agreed to proceed with various strategies. including the rationalisation of services in the transpacific and Asia-Europe trades, and further co-operation on terminal operations and equipment sharing. As well as slow steaming, the lines are also preparing to revise schedules so that there is no unnecessary duplication of port calls between the various services. That may be the best way of saving fuel on the Pacific where there is less scope to decrease speeds. Instead, the lines hope to reduce the number of separate calls at Asian load ports. Even though the Pacific trades are in poor shape right now, the consortium has not yet decided whether to remove capacity by deploying smaller ships, or possibly offering fewer than the current 14 loops it now operates between Asia and the US west coast. If ships are withdrawn, they could be transferred to routes such as the Middle East trades where conditions are much better, said Mr Kido in a telephone interview.
Cosco: part of the CKYH alliance.FOUR powerful Asian container lines have agreed to slow down their ships and eliminate duplicate port calls as part of a wide-ranging programme aimed at slashing record high fuel bills Cosco Container Lines, K Line, Yang Ming and Hanjin Shipping, which co-operate through the CKYH alliance, will be adding a ninth vessel wherever possible to their Asia-Europe services.That will enable ships to lower steaming speeds from 25 knots to about 21.5 knots. The consortium operates eight loops between Asia and northern Europe, of which two covering the longest route from northern China are already run with nine vessels. The network also includes another three strings between Asia and the western Mediterranean, and three to the eastern Mediterranean. Several other lines or alliances have slowed their ships in the Asia-Europe trades as bunker prices hit unprecedented highs, but this is not appropriate on shorter routes as it would be impossible then to maintain weekly schedules. A 10% speed reduction can cut fuel consumption by 30%, and so generate massive savings. The four lines are now looking for additional tonnage to slot into their Asia-Europe rotations. That could include ships redeployed from the Pacific if the quartet decides to reduce capacity there. But if the right units cannot be found, the CKYH alliance is prepared to run some of its Asia-Europe loops at slower speeds with eight ships, and miss one weekly call, said Takafumi Kido, deputy general manager of K Line’s container business group planning team. The determination to save fuel follows a summit meeting of senior staff from the four lines in Japan earlier this month. They agreed to proceed with various strategies. including the rationalisation of services in the transpacific and Asia-Europe trades, and further co-operation on terminal operations and equipment sharing. As well as slow steaming, the lines are also preparing to revise schedules so that there is no unnecessary duplication of port calls between the various services. That may be the best way of saving fuel on the Pacific where there is less scope to decrease speeds. Instead, the lines hope to reduce the number of separate calls at Asian load ports. Even though the Pacific trades are in poor shape right now, the consortium has not yet decided whether to remove capacity by deploying smaller ships, or possibly offering fewer than the current 14 loops it now operates between Asia and the US west coast. If ships are withdrawn, they could be transferred to routes such as the Middle East trades where conditions are much better, said Mr Kido in a telephone interview.
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