当低速成为习惯

Slow boat from China

那些希望通过放慢供应链速度来降低航运成本的制造商和零售商发现,这一策略赢得了一些原本不太可能的支持者：那就是在国际贸易中承运绝大多数商品的远洋集装箱运输公司。

Manufacturers and retailers looking to cut shipping costs by slowing down their supply chains are finding unlikely new supporters of the strategy:the ocean container lines that carry the overwhelming goods in international trade.Slow steaming—sailing 25-knot vessels at 20 to 22 knots—became standard practice on long Asia-Europe routes last fall as carriers sought to control costs and find gainful employment for some of the 700-plus container ships laid up around the world.During the last three months,slow steaming has spread to trans-Pacific voyages,adding up to three days to the 11 or 12 days that most vessels required to sail from their last Asian port to their first inbound port on the U.S.West Coast.Ships also have been slowed on long intra-Asia routes and in other services.