Maersk won’t slow down further

Maersk won’t slow down further    Maersk Line Chief Executive Office Eivind Kolding said his shipping line won't slow down ships any further despite rising fuel costs.

Kolding

   Kolding, speaking in an interview with Reuters, said higher fuel costs would necessarily be passed on to customers through bunker surcharges, and that Maersk is 'on average, on our top speed now.
   'If we sail much slower, our customers may not be happy with the transit time,' Kolding said. 'We're making sure that our higher oil costs are being covered by the bunker fuel charges that we add to the freight rates. As long as we're covered via the surcharge, we won't slow down any further.'
   Bunker prices have hit a 30-month high, reaching a level not seen since before the global economic meltdown in fall 2008. Lines began aggressively slow steaming services in 2009, and have kept that strategy intact to cut fuel consumption and absorb fleet capacity.