China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) plans to reduce the cruising speed of all its ships by 10%, after a slow-steaming pilot scheme launched at the start of the year yielded 'impressive' results.
The owner of the world's largest dry-bulk fleet “saved nearly 30,000 tonnes of fuel” in March as a result of the scheme, Chen Zhengjie, COSCO's director of safety and technology superintendent division, said at a meeting on Wednesday.
“Fuel consumption is now at its lowest level in the company's history,” Chen was quoted as saying.
He added that the company had also spent millions of dollar last year equipping its vessels with energy-saving equipment.
COSCO's container ships currently account for 65% of the company's total energy consumption.
The Chinese state-owned company in April reported a 135% jump in net profit to $2.8 billion (19.5 billion yuan) last year.
It said at the time that slow steaming was expected to help reduce bunker fuel consumption and keep its operational costs in check.
COSCO is the latest shipping company to introduce slow steaming. Earlier this month, Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. (OOCL) and partners - NYK Line, Hapag-Lloyd AG and MISC Berhad.- said they were adopting slow steaming for one of its services.
COSCO's move towards slow steaming is also in line with China's plans to cut its transport industry's fuel consumption and emissions.
“By 2010, we aim to reduce fuel consumption per unit for trucks and ports by 5%, and for ocean-going ships by 11%, based on 2005 figures,” said Gao Hongfeng, China's vice minister of transport, at the same meeting.
The reduction of energy consumption and emissions is a “long-term task for the whole transport industry” which “can be achieved through better management and planning,” he added.
Gao also said that the ministry would soon introduce an index of emissions and energy consumption as part of its management systems for all transports.
A similar index was used to evaluate COSCO's performance during the pilot scheme, Chen said.
The owner of the world's largest dry-bulk fleet “saved nearly 30,000 tonnes of fuel” in March as a result of the scheme, Chen Zhengjie, COSCO's director of safety and technology superintendent division, said at a meeting on Wednesday.
“Fuel consumption is now at its lowest level in the company's history,” Chen was quoted as saying.
He added that the company had also spent millions of dollar last year equipping its vessels with energy-saving equipment.
COSCO's container ships currently account for 65% of the company's total energy consumption.
The Chinese state-owned company in April reported a 135% jump in net profit to $2.8 billion (19.5 billion yuan) last year.
It said at the time that slow steaming was expected to help reduce bunker fuel consumption and keep its operational costs in check.
COSCO is the latest shipping company to introduce slow steaming. Earlier this month, Orient Overseas Container Line Ltd. (OOCL) and partners - NYK Line, Hapag-Lloyd AG and MISC Berhad.- said they were adopting slow steaming for one of its services.
COSCO's move towards slow steaming is also in line with China's plans to cut its transport industry's fuel consumption and emissions.
“By 2010, we aim to reduce fuel consumption per unit for trucks and ports by 5%, and for ocean-going ships by 11%, based on 2005 figures,” said Gao Hongfeng, China's vice minister of transport, at the same meeting.
The reduction of energy consumption and emissions is a “long-term task for the whole transport industry” which “can be achieved through better management and planning,” he added.
Gao also said that the ministry would soon introduce an index of emissions and energy consumption as part of its management systems for all transports.
A similar index was used to evaluate COSCO's performance during the pilot scheme, Chen said.