Editorial No. 02 / 2008 - page 2

As far as schedule integrity and resulting adjustments are concerned, we have to wait and see what happens. European ports are congested and have only little scope for changes in port arrival and departure times, whereas berthing windows in Asia are far more flexible and often can be adjusted to suit customers’ demands. So at least on eastbound voyages the slow steamers - which we and our alliance partners also belong to - will make a positive difference.

Another reason in favour of the additional ship is the provision of nearly 60 vessels ranging from 6,500 up to 13,000 teu capacity to be delivered within 2008. After all, the additional capacity has to go somewhere. Thus, the extra vessel absorbs the extra capacity and, at the same time, might turn out to be the green cost savers.

The so-called “carbon footprint” is omnipresent in the prevailing greener approach to shipping. The reduction of the CO2 emission of the vessels is one of the big challenges to meet - today and even more so in the future, so as to be able to avoid further global warming and extensive pollution of the air and the oceans.

Ways to make a positive change for the environment are manifold: Low-sulphur emission zones need to be extended and monitored more vigorously, an environmentally friendlier bunker could be developed, so-called “cleaner marine fuel”. Surely, improving the vessels' technology will make for a more efficient bunker consumption, too.

Experiments such as Skysail are in line with this development and approach. However, we have got a very long way to go yet – the success, economic viability and efficiency of the experiment remains to be shown. Port operations and inter-modal transportation as well are looked upon with a greener perspective. Block trains have started operating, and many shipping lines try to switch some of their cargo to rail and barge.