The average sailing speed of merchant vessels has declined so far in 2025, according to a recent weekly report from maritime analyst Clarksons Research. And it has done so across the board in all sectors, unlike last year 2024, when trends were very mixed.

Since 2008, average vessel speeds have fallen by 20% to 30% across most shipping sectors. Initially, this decline was mainly due to overcapacity following the financial crisis (although high fuel prices also played a role). More recently, it has been blamed on efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, it is still variations in market conditions, as well as fuel prices, that are the main drivers of speed trends.

When freight levels pick up, periods of “acceleration” occur, although when conditions normalize, the underlying long-term trend is toward deceleration. For example, average containership speeds increased by 2% year-on-year during 2021, but then fell by 4% in 2022 and 2023 when markets normalized.

As mentioned above, during 2024 ship speed trends were mixed. The average speed of containerships increased by 1% over 2023, standing at 14.0 knots. This increase was most significant among vessels between 12,000 and 16,999 TEU, reaching 4% year-on-year. The average speed of LNG carriers also increased.

However, in other segments there was a generalized reduction. Average speed in the tanker segment decreased slightly (-0.4% y-o-y in 2023 to 11.4 knots), with more pronounced declines among bulk carriers (-0.8%, 10.9 knots), car carriers (-0.9%, 15.0 knots) and large LPG carriers (-1.2%, 13.9 knots). Overall, the average speed of the ocean merchant fleet increased in early 2024, before declining in the second half due to softer market conditions in many sectors.

In contrast to the mixed trends of 2024, early 2025 sees a generalized decline in speed across all major shipping sectors. In the first two months of 2025, the average sailing speed of LNG carriers decreased by 2.0% to 14.6 knots compared to the average recorded in 2024; that of bulk carriers by 1.7% to 10.7 knots; and that of product tankers by 1.1% to 11.2 knots.

Also, according to Clarksons, the ships considered ´eco´ continue to sail at slightly higher speeds than the older units; the VLCC and capesizes ´eco´ currently sail around half-knots faster than conventional ships, This distribution has remained fairly stable in recent years. In the large LPG tanker sector, the speed difference between eco and non-eco vessels has increased considerably to 1.6 knots. While among LNG vessels, steam turbine powered units are slowing more than the more modern vessels (a decrease of 12% compared to 6% since 2018).

Thus, after the mixed tendencies in 2024, in what we have of 2025 the speeds of the ships are reduced in general, continuing a downward trajectory recorded in the last years.

News and image obtained: "Asociación de navieros españoles"

https://anave.es/comienza-2025-con-un-descenso-generalizado-de-la-velocidad-media-de-navegacion/