Is the reliability of liner services improved due to slow steaming?

Due to the implementation of slow steaming in 2008, transit times for shippers increased significantly. Shipping lines claimed that due to the implementation of slow steaming, the increased transit time is compensated by increased reliability. Reliability has recently become one of the most important considerations for a shipper. In this thesis the claim of shipping lines that reliability has increased due to the implementation of slow steaming is researched. In order to understand the concept of slow steaming, the main factors of slow steaming are discussed. These factors include bunker costs, time factor, inventory costs and CO2 reduction. Hereafter the global reliability levels of the top-20 carriers in the time period 2006-2014 are analyzed. A significant difference between the period before and after the implementation is observed. In order to get a better picture of the change of reliability due to slow steaming, a more in-depth case study on the AE10 loop of Maersk is done. This particular loop scores high reliability figures and a rising trend since the beginning of the dataset which starts in 2011. This high reliability is explained due to the fact that Maersk implements significant buffer time in this particular loop. This is possible due to the slow steaming speed which is applied on its vessels. This buffer time can be used in order to catch up on schedule and therefore ensure on-time reliability. The conclusion of this thesis results in an acknowledgment of the claim of carriers, that reliability improved due to the implementation of slow steaming. However, it should be noted that the increased reliability isn’t very high and a lot of variance in reliability between carriers and routes occur.