Is slow steaming a sustainable means of reducing CO2 emissions from container shipping?

Slow steaming strategies have been implemented by most shipping lines and significantly reduce CO2 emissions from international shipping. This article measures the rate at which CO2 emissions have been reduced for various container trades and estimates the bunker break-even price at which this strategy is sustainable in the long run. It is found that shows such reductions can only be sustained given a bunker price of at least $350–$400 for the main container trades.

Research highlights
► Slow steaming led to 11% decrease in CO2 emissions from containerships since 2008.
► The greatest reduction is seen for vessels on the multi-trade (−16.5%) and Europe/Far East services (−16.4%).
► This reduction can only be sustained given a bunker price of at least $350–$400 for the main east-west trades
► Powerful market-based solutions, such as tax levies or cap-and-trade systems, could be implemented to sustain bunker prices at this level.