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Originally Posted by Der Teddy Bar
The waypoint speed variations are of course for the most part a non historical feature. They are however part of a bigger game play concept than simply changing speeds for the sake of it.
The changing of speeds…
1. It removes the turkey shoot of “oh it’s a slow convoy so it is always 6 knots, it’s a medium convoy its 10 knots etc” or “it’s a merchant then the speed is always 6 knots and it is an escort the speed is always 14 knots”
2. Simulates different weather conditions effects that allowed a convoy to make better or worse speed something that doesn’t occur in the game
3. Simulates different ships & convoys on the same path i.e. better than creating 4 instances on the one convoy path for each speed possibility
4. Adds a new dimension to finding a convoy when within 24 hours a convoy could be anywhere within a 96 kilometre radius. Making the player 'hunt' for his convoy and not just have the convoy delivered to him.
As you can see, 4 GREAT game play features! 
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I agree with this assessment. However, concerning point 2, variations in speed may lead to an odd situation when at good calm weather the whole convoy suddently slows down. Wouldn't an irregular zig-zag pattern take care of most of the points while keeping things more historical?
On the other hand, one can use speed differences for producing strugglers to stay with convoy by creating and inserting into convoys ships with their top speed lower than the speed of the convoy. When a convoy is 3D-rendered at tens of kilometers from the player such strugglers will be significantly behind by the time the player reaches the convoy.