Shipping must remain energy-efficient

Ship efficiency remains just as relevant and important in a bearish oil market as it does when shipowners have to pay more than US$600 for a tonne of heavy fuel oil. “With crude oil prices at their lowest since April 2009, the temptation is to put your foot on the gas and speed up a bit but this is not the way forward. When oil prices are low shipowners can benefit more fully from energy-saving technologies,” said Hakan Ozcan, the chief financial officer of Ecoships, the technical ship management arm of Newport Shipping Group.