i DRY CARGO DC international ISSUE NO. 204 JULY 2017 FEATURES Bauxite & Alumina N America West Coast Forest Products Engineering Consultants Rail & Barge Handling Technology & Transport The world’s leading and only monthly magazine for the dry bulk industry Rugged Energy & Data Transmission Systems Motor Driven Reels • Monospiral and Level-Wind confi gurations • Rugged and dependable magnetic Conductix-Wampfl er has one critical mission: coupler for dusty environments To keep your bulk material handling operations running 24 / 7 / 365. You need proven, worry- free energy solutions - and Conductix-Wampfl er has them. Our systems provide reliable electric power and water to stacker/reclaimers, barge and ship loaders/unloaders, bulk conveyors, tripper systems, and gantry cranes. Conductix-Wampfl er systems are rugged, low maintenance, and time- Cable Festoon • Corrosion-resistant, long-life rollers; tested in tough, dusty environments. All products precision sealed bearings are backed by the largest sales and service • Systems customized for the application • Preassembled option, for easy installation network worldwide! www.conductix.com Cable Chain • Rugged design for demanding environments • Long operating life • Custom-confi gured CONTENTS SENNEBOGEN 875 E-Series with Green Hybrid Energy DC Recovery impresses with i ranges of up to 27m and a maximum load capacity of 7.5 t, that completely satisfies demanding port handling requirements. Whether handling piece goods or bulk goods, it is impressive with its high materials handling capacity, with proven low energy costs and operating costs that have even been further reduced, thanks to the Green Hybrid energy recovery system. SENNEBOGEN Maschinenfabrik GmbH Sennebogenstraße 10 D-94315 Straubing, Germany T.: +49 9421 540-0 E: [email protected] W: www.sennebogen.com PUBLISHERS Jason Chinnock [email protected] JULY 2017 issue Andrew Hucker-Brown [email protected] EDITORIAL featuring... Louise Dodds-Ely Editor [email protected] Jay Venter Deputy Editor [email protected] TRADE & COMMODITIES Samantha Smith Directories [email protected] A flat outlook for grain trade? 2 Stephanie Hodgkins Office Manager Steel production pickup boosts raw materials trade 4 [email protected] BAUXITE AND ALUMINA: CAPACITY CUTS NEEDED FOR TRADE BALANCE 6 SALES Matthew Currin Senior Sales [email protected] Executive SHIPPING & TRANSPORT Gregg Franz Advertisement Sales [email protected] Executive The ‘Pasha Bulker’ ten years on – an insider’s account 10 Industry recognition for Langh Tech’s scrubber 12 CORRESPONDENTS Brazil Patrick Knight GETTING THE BUZZ ON BULKERS: WHAT’SAFFECTINGSHIPPING? 15 India Kunal Bose RAIL AND BARGE TRANSPORT’S ESSENTIAL ROLE 19 Asia David Hayes Europe Barry Cross Malaysia Wira Sulaiman PORTS, TERMINALS & LOGISTICS Philippines Fred Pundol South Africa Iain McIntosh Agreement reached for LNG supply station at Dunkerque 29 UK Maria Cappuccio ABP Humber and RBT join growing ABTO membership 31 UK Michael King RY BULK TRAFFIC DOWN OR FLAT ON EST OAST UK Richard Scott D US W C 33 USA Colby Haines USA Walter Mitchell ENGINEERING & EQUIPMENT ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE Business Publishing International Bedeschi supplies shiploader to AdvanSix plant in Virginia, USA 38 Corporate Park, 11 Sinembe Crescent Noatum adds another Konecranes Gottwald MHC to its fleet 42 La Lucia Ridge, South Africa, 4051 TM Tel: +27 31 583 4360 FLSmidth collaborates with Goldcorp on EcoTails 44 Fax: +27 31 566 4502 ONTRACKWITHRAIL& BARGE HANDLING EQUIPMENT 45 Email: [email protected] CIMBRIA COMPLETES MAJOR SILO ORDER IN EGYPT 65 Twitter: twitter.com/drycargomag HEAD OFFICE Trade Publishing International Limited GRAIN HANDLING DIRECTORY 81 Clover House, 24 Drury Road, Colchester, Essex CO2 7UX, UK Tel: +44 (0)1206 562560 Fax: +44 (0)1206 562566 Email: [email protected] Website: www.dc-int.com SUBSCRIPTION RATES Twitter: twitter.com/drycargomag 1 year 2 years 3 years ISSN 1466-3643 UK £170.00 £280.00 £365.00 Europe £210.00 £355.00 £460.00 Trade Publishing International Ltd does not guarantee the 2017 JULY information contained in Dry Cargo International, nor does USA & ROW £260.00 £445.00 £580.00 it accept responsibility for errors or omissions or their If you do not subscribe, this copy of Dry Cargo International could be your last. Please consequences. Opinions expressed herein are not complete the order form on the Advertisers’ Index page to guarantee delivery of your necessarily those of Trade Publishing International Ltd regular monthly copy. DCi © Trade Publishing Int’l Ltd 2017 1 A flat outlook for grain trade? ommodity import demand in a number of countries supports this trend. evidently is being reinforced by positive influences. China’s monthly iron ore imports averaged 89mt in the These are assisting growth in global seaborne dry first five months of 2017, after an average 85.4mt through Cbulk trade, with indications pointing to a possible last year. The strengthening trend indicates that the annual acceleration in 2017 as a whole, compared with last year. figure will be much higher this year, but there are However, there is still uncertainty about aspects of second uncertainties about future performance. Other importers half expansion. currently expected to see annual increases include Japan, the The latest economic outlook prepared by the OECD European Union, and several smaller buyers. organization, published last month, highlighted signs of improvement in the global economy beginning to appear. A COAL modest pickup in the world’s GDP growth rate this year now Seaborne coal trade now appears to be set for a solid seems achievable, from 3.0% in 2016, to 3.5%. World trade increase in 2017 which, if achieved, will be a notable volume is forecast to grow by 4.6% in 2017, almost double reversal of the trend following two down years. But this last year’s sluggish rate. year’s second half is still difficult to predict, especially as China’s imports could be greatly affected by changes in GRAIN official policy as well as commercial decisions. In the grains sector (wheat, corn and other coarse grains) In another key importing country, India, coal imports could International Grains Council estimates suggest that global continue declining. Last year saw a 10% reduction to just trade may be marginally lower at 349mt (million tonnes), below 200mt, amid increased output from domestic Indian during the new 2017/18 crop year starting this month. coal mines. These are expected to expand production again. Previously a small 5mt or 1% estimated rise to 351mt While demand for power remains strong as the economy occurred in 2016/17 which has just ended, as shown in grows rapidly, other energy sources are contributing table 1. The outlook may change when summer harvests in additional electricity supplies. BULK CARRIER TRADE & FLEET OUTLOOK northern hemisphere importing countries have been completed. MINOR BULKS Sizeable increases in grain import demand are not a Fertilizers in raw or processed forms comprise a large part of prominent feature at present. In the past twelve months, the minor bulks trade group. Shipments of phosphate rock, higher imports into India, Mexico and Brazil (wheat) were sulphur, potash, urea and manufactured fertilizers are the main additions. A restraining element probably estimated to have totalled over 150mt in 2016. Tentative continuing in the period ahead is a downwards trend in signs of an increase in the current year have emerged, China’s imports, especially feedgrains, reflecting government possibly raising the total by about 3–4%. policy designed to reduce excessive corn stocks. Also, India’s imports which were unusually high in 2016/17 are likely to BULK CARRIER FLEET diminish because of a better domestic harvest. In the Handysize (10-40,000 dwt) bulk carrier category, which comprises about 12% of the entire world fleet of IRON ORE all sizes, growth may accelerate slightly in 2017, as shown Higher steel production in a number of countries is benefiting in table 2. This fleet has grown slowly in the past three raw materials trade. Improving economic growth momentum years, averaging 1.4% annually. During the current twelve is apparently reflecting partly a greater contribution from months, lower newbuilding deliveries accompanied by investment spending, much of which incorporates steel. sharply reduced scrapping could raise the growth rate to Stronger public infrastructure investment in Asian countries over 2%. TABLE 1: GLOBAL WHEAT & COARSE GRAINS IMPORTS (MILLION TONNES) 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17* 2016/17* Asia (excluding Japan) 58.6 73.6 89.0 95.0 94.4 89.4 Japan 24.3 23.4 21.9 22.1 22.9 22.7 Middle East 48.4 54.0 56.7 55.8 55.7 58.3 Africa 56.3 65.3 67.1 76.2 76.0 74.8 Others 83.1 94.1 87.4 96.6 101.5 103.9 World total 270.7 310.4 322.1 345.7 350.5 349.1 source: International Grains Council, 29 June 2017 *forecast July/June crop years TABLE 2: HANDYSIZE 10-39,999 DWT BULK CARRIER FLEET (MILLION DEADWEIGHT TONNES) 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017* Newbuilding deliveries 10.4 6.3 5.4 6.6 4.6 4.0 Scrapping (sales) 8.3 6.7 4.2 5.2 3.2 2.0 Losses 0.1 0.2 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Plus/minus adjustments 0.5 0.0 –0.1 –0.1 0.0 0.0 World fleet at end of year 90.9 90.3 91.4 92.7 94.0 96.0 % change from previous year-end +1.7 –0.7 +1.2 +1.5 +1.4 +2.1 JULY 2017 source: Clarksons (historical data) & Bulk Shipping Analysis 2017 forecast *forecast DCi by Richard Scott, Bulk Shipping Analysis, Tel: +44 (0)12 7722 5784; Fax: +44 (0)12 7722 5784; e-mail: [email protected] 2 Steel production pickup boosts raw materials trade NEWS Cargoes of iron ore and coking coal — the main commodities been reinforced by rapid expansion in the past few months.