After announcing his company's 2009 results this week, boxship operator Seaspan's Gerry Wang opined in a revealing Q&A session that the practice of slow and super-slow steaming was set to become a 'semi-permanent' feature for ocean carriers; regardless of the rapid rise in freight rates.

But the cost saving slow-steaming one-size-fits-all policy of the liners, sold under the eco-friendly guise, is starting to hit choppy waters that may entail a re-think of policy.

Indeed, the newly-elected chairman of the European Shippers' Council (ESC), Jean Louis Cambon has lost no time getting his feet under the desk to blast ocean carriers this week for the impact that a mandatory lengthening of supply chains will entail.

He said: 'Those carriers introducing slow-steaming to reduce their own costs must understand the possible impacts this has on their customers' supply chains: lengthening lead-times, increasing inventory cost, disorganising transhipment patterns, and making changes to schedules and port rotations with little or no warning.'

The Michelin executive's complaint comes in the same week that Drewry Shipping Consultants published its latest schedule integrity report; revealing that out of 1,600 vessels tracked only one half arrived on the scheduled day or before.