Rising fuel prices and a surplus of vessel capacity have resulted in carriers increasing extra-slow-steaming (ESS) programmes this winter, according to analyst AXS Alphaliner.

With the cost of fuel rising to US$500 a tonne, Alphaliner said the additional capacity absorbed by carriers implementing ESS had increased to 625,000teu, or 4.4% of the containership fleet.

By sailing at a slower speed, carriers are able to burn less fuel and absorb excess capacity, as more ships are needed to maintain the frequency of schedules.

The analyst said 93% of Far East-North Europe loops and 80% of Far East-Mediterranean loops had adopted ESS, leaving little scope for increasing its use.

Alphaliner said: ��If ESS was fully adopted on all Far East-Europe loops and currently skipped sailings were filled, this would only absorb an additional 60,000teu.

"There is however still some room for ESS adoption on the transpacific route. Presently, 50% of the Far East-US west coast loops and 76% of the Far East-US east coast loops are slow-steaming.

"A full adoption of ESS on all transpacific routes could absorb a further 140,000teu.

The efficiency of ESS on the shorter FE-USWC loops is, however, less compelling. These services are more sensitive to the fixed costs of deploying additional ships, relative to the cost of existing ships."

Alphaliner said there was also a market for niche transpacific carriers to run at faster speeds to provide a competitive advantage over larger rivals.

If all container services that operated on the deepsea trades were to adopt ESS, it would absorb an extra 350,000teu.

Meanwhile, a recent report in IFW's sister publication, Lloyd's List, suggests that 5% of the active containership fleet must be removed if carriers want to increase rates.

But analysts said it was unlikely that carriers would remove any more vessels from service