Sony logistics manager says slow-steaming too slow for him

HIGH-speed port-to-port shipping is still needed despite the popularity of bunker-busting slow-steaming, Sony supply chain European manager Adam Rashid told a London shipping conference this week.

Speaking at Containerisation International's Global Liner Shipping Conference, London's International Freighting Weekly reported that Mr Rachid wanted three-week door-to-door service for his mid-priced products.

"If you have a medium-sized vessel going point-to point from China to Rotterdam, I'm sure you could fill it, and if anyone did that, I'd buy space. I have mentioned this, but it wasn't the right time because of the current trend towards slowing ships," he said.

Mr Rashid said shippers would be reluctant if carriers wanted slow services more to cut fuel costs and absorb capacity. "We would have to think carefully about getting any slower. I think what we've got is already slow enough. We have to accept that there is a range of products, and there is a range of requirements, but some are more urgent than others," he said.

(Source: www.schednet.com)