Slow steaming takes over all Far-East-North Europe trade lanes

THE last eight-week rotation on the Far East-North Europe route - the CSCL/Evergreen AEX 1/CEM service - will switch to slow steaming on April 20, thus making the trade lane the first to be entirely taken up with once novel fuel saving technique, reports Alphaliner.


A 10-week transit is now typical because of the rise in bunker prices, which makes slow steaming attractive to shipowners and operators because fuel burn is much reduced at lower speeds. Over the last five years, transit times have increased 22 per cent, or two more weeks on the route, said Alphaliner.


The Paris-based shipping consultancy reports the AEX 1/CEM service will add an extra week to its rotation from April 20, as a ninth vessel joins the loop (six from CSCL and three from Evergreen), adding two days to the westbound transit and three days to the eastbound return. Evergreen ships' occasional calls at Qingdao will end with the change.


The revised rotation will be Felixstowe, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Ningbo, Shenzhen-Yantian and back to Felixstowe with nine ships of 8,000 - 9,500 TEU. The three vessels of 10,000 and 14,000 TEU on the route will be reassigned to the AEX 7 service run by Evergreen, CSCL, CMA CGM and UASC, though known as FAL 2 by CMA CGM and AEC 8 by UASC.
(Source:http://www.schednet.com)