CKYH adds ships to slow-steamed links

CKYH adds ships to slow-steamed links    American Shipper on Tuesday reported that the members of the CKYH Alliance would be slow steaming four of their six Asia/Europe services by Feb. 11.
   At the time of writing it was unclear whether vessels would be added to the services (as is usually the case with services that are slow-steamed) or whether the total transit times would be lengthened.
   On Wednesday, a spokesperson for CKYH member Hanjin Shipping clarified that a vessel will be added to each of the four services, meaning each service will operate with nine vessels and will keep to the same westbound schedule.
   The spokesperson said transit times eastbound (the backhaul route from Europe to Asia) would be lengthened by seven days. Other carriers and alliance that have introduced slow steaming into their Asia/Europe loops have taken similar measures, keeping the schedule integrity of the head haul leg and lengthening the less lucrative backhaul.
   Slow steaming serves two primary purposes — it cuts fuel consumption and vessel emissions, while also allowing carriers to employ excess capacity that would otherwise be idled.