Evaluating the potential economic and societal impacts of slow steaming when used as the primary tool towards greenhouse gas emissions reduction

Abstract

A qualitative systematic literature review was conducted to evaluate the potential economic and societal impacts of slow steaming, when used as the primary means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from shipping. The vast majority of studies were focused on the economic cost-effectiveness or the effect on transport cost when using slow-steaming as a means of reducing fuel consumption in shipping. Additionally, a certain number of these studies employed modelling, by using a limited number of vessels and associated routes to identify the effects of slow-steaming. The literature resulted in reasonable agreement that a reduction of the transportation costs follows a reduction in speed mainly coming from the reduced costs for fuel, with which it is correlated. Other factors, which were observed to increase costs, such as operational costs of the vessels, had a less dominant effect. The literature pointed in many occasions that costs reduction from the implementation of slow-steaming were unequally distributed across the maritime stakeholders. Shipping companies were the main beneficiaries of important cost reductions, but these “savings” were not always passed on to the shippers’ side.

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ORCID for Seyedvahid Vakili: orcid.org/0000-0001-6153-8646

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