Today's container ships slower than the great clippers

News was prepared under the information support of Online Daily Newspaper on Hellenic and international Shipping "Hellenic Shipping News".

30 Oct 2010

Mighty container ships are now steaming so slowly to save money that they take longer to cross the oceans than sailing ships of 150 years ago. A report published this autumn estimates that most conatiner ships move more slowly on the great trading routes than the fast sailing ships of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. 
The clipper ship Cutty Sark, built in Scotland in 1969, carried wool from Australia to Britain in 67 days, with a top speed of 17.2 knots. She once averaged 15 knots, sailing 360 miles in a day's run of 24 hours.
Many modern container ships can achieve 25 knots. But the report 'Slow Steaming - A Transient Fashion or Here to Stay?' from the research firm Dynamar, based in Almaar, Netherlands, suggests that, by mid-2010, half the world's active container ship fleet, carrying 35 per cent of global trade by value, was steaming slower than before the economic downturn - 15 knots or less. Dynamar say that slow-steaming has found work for new ships that were ordered during the world boom years and it has reduced pollution, but shippers are being let down by late deliveries.
"So far, going slow and using extra ships has not substantially improved schedule integrity, although this is a promise made by many carriers," says the report.

Source: Classic Boat