We develop a flexible framework for the estimation of the fuel consumption-speed curve for ships which allows for speed-dependent elasticity with endogenous thresholds. Using a large dataset of noon reports for 16 crude oil tankers, we estimate the corresponding elasticities net of weather effects. Our empirical findings confirm that the classical cubic law for fuel consumption is valid only near the design speed but also that the sensitivity with regards to sailing speed can be substantially lower at the sailing speeds actually observed. Our results can be used to question the economic and environmental benefits of slow-steaming and fuel levies.

中文翻译：

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重新审视最佳航速和立方定律：来自油轮船队的经验证据

我们开发了一个灵活的框架来估算船舶的油耗-速度曲线，从而允许具有内生阈值的速度相关弹性。使用16个原油轮的正午报告的大型数据集，我们估算了受天气影响的相应弹性。我们的经验发现证实，燃油消耗的经典三次定律仅在设计速度附近有效，而且在实际观察到的航行速度下，对航行速度的敏感性可以大大降低。我们的结果可用于质疑慢速汽提和燃油税的经济和环境效益。