i DRY CARGO DC international ISSUE NO.178 MARCH 2015 FEATURES Global Grain Trades Baltic Ports Project Cargo Bulker Safety Belt Conveyor Systems & Technology The world’s leading and only monthly magazine for the dry bulk industry VERSTEGEN GRAB MORE MORE GRAB 6ERSTEGEN'RIJPERS"6s0/"OXs"!.IEUWEGEINs4HE.ETHERLANDS TEL sFAX EMAILINFO VERSTEGENNETsWEBSITEWWWVERSTEGENNET CONTENTS Electro-hydraulic grab, type EHS-B 12m³, DCi connected with cable and tag-line, ready for operation on a deck-crane. Orts GmbH Maschinenfabrik Schwartauer Str. 99 | D-23611 Sereetz, Germany T: +49 (451) 39 885-0 F: +49 (451) 39 23 74 E: [email protected] W: www.orts-grabs.de PUBLISHERS Jason Chinnock [email protected] MARCH 2015 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] Slowing growth in dry bulk trade 2 Stephanie Hodgkins Office Manager GLOBAL GRAIN TRADES 5 [email protected] SALES Lourens van Emmenis Sales Director SHIPPING & TRANSPORT [email protected] Idle capacity in all ship categories is bad news for charter rates 15 Matthew Currin Senior Sales Executive [email protected] DA-Desk announces new managing director 17 STAYING SAFE AT SEA: SAFEGUARDING CREW AND VESSELS ON THE WATER 19 CORRESPONDENTS Brazil Patrick Knight Canada Ray Dykes India Kunal Bose Asia David Hayes PORTS, TERMINALS & LOGISTICS Europe Barry Cross Malaysia Wira Sulaiman Biomass terminal for Hull 33 Philippines Fred Pundol Giant shiploaders arrive at Port of Sept-Îles 37 South Africa Iain McIntosh UK Maria Cappuccio BALTIC PORTS: F INLAND UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT 39 UK Michael King UK Richard Scott USA Colby Haines USA Walter Mitchell REGIONAL REPORT UNITED KINGDOM BULK 43 ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICE Business Publishing International Corporate House, 11 Sinembe Crescent La Lucia Ridge, South Africa, 4051 Tel: +27 31 583 4360 ENGINEERING & EQUIPMENT Fax: +27 31 566 4502 Email: [email protected] Easyfairs acquires Dry Cargo Europe Conference & Exhibition 49 BULK CONVEYORS AND TECHNOLOGIES 63 HEAD OFFICE Trade Publishing International Limited Clover House, 24 Drury Road, BREAKBULK & BAGGING Colchester, Essex CO2 7UX, UK STEEL MARKET CRISIS? 127 Tel: +44 (0)1206 562560 Fax: +44 (0)1206 562566 CRITICAL MASS: PROJECT CARGO & WAREHOUSING 132 Email: [email protected] Website: www.dc-int.com ISSN 1466-3643 Trade Publishing International Ltd does not guarantee the SUBSCRIPTION RATES information contained in Dry Cargo International, nor does 1 year 2 years 3 years MARCH 2015 it accept responsibility for errors or omissions or their UK £170.00 £280.00 £365.00 consequences. Opinions expressed herein are not Europe £210.00 £355.00 £460.00 necessarily those of Trade Publishing International Ltd USA & ROW £260.00 £445.00 £580.00 If you do not subscribe, this copy of Dry Cargo International could be your last. Please © Trade Publishing Int’l Ltd 2015 complete the order form on p148 to guarantee delivery of your regular monthly copy. DCi 1 Slowing growth in dry bulk trade arious signs point to a sizeable increase in global is forecast to grow slightly by 22mt or 2%, reaching 1,215mt. V seaborne dry bulk trade during 2015. Import Positive indications for a number of importers in Asia are demand around the world, for many commodities, apparent, but there is considerable uncertainty about China’s almost certainly will rise but, after last year’s slower growth, purchases after last year’s big reduction. India also is a a decelerating pattern seems to be evolving. There is still a major focus of attention, but the outlook for these imports heavy dependence on the expansion of China’s commodity seems favourable, amid an increasing dependence on foreign purchases. coal supplies. Strengthening momentum in global economic activity could provide a more solid backdrop for trade movements. Additional GRAIN demand for the products of industries importing dry bulks can Vigorous growth in grain trade last year may be followed by be expected to have a beneficial effect. The recent large only a limited further rise in 2015. However, forecasts for reduction in oil prices, assuming that it persists, will boost this commodity, especially beyond about six months ahead, many economies. Although China’s slowing mode is predicted are highly speculative. This feature reflects the difficulty or to continue, a gradual pick up elsewhere may be seen. impossibility of predicting weather patterns which will determine both importers’ domestic harvests and exporters’ IRON ORE production volumes. After growing rapidly last year, world seaborne iron ore trade World seaborne grain trade (including wheat, corn and could expand by 62mt (million tonnes) or about 5% in 2015, other coarse grains plus soyabeans) may be fairly flat this to 1,398mt as shown by table 1. Other forecasts suggest year at 376mt. During the conventional crop year used in higher growth is likely. Most of the extra volume probably statistics, a 2% wheat and coarse grains trade reduction in will be bought by China, the dominant importer, similar to the current period ending June 2015 is indicated. Conversely, the pattern seen in previous years. Predictions therefore soyabeans trade in the period ending September could be reflect assumptions about key influences shaping Chinese 2% higher, assuming increased imports into China. BULK CARRIER TRADE & FLEET OUTLOOK BULK CARRIER TRADE & FLEET purchases. A rise in China’s imports this year of about 6%, raising the MINOR BULKS total to 990mt, is part of the overall iron ore trade forecast. The large and varied minor bulks sector comprises about An enlarging proportion of ore from foreign suppliers, one-third of global seaborne dry bulk trade. Following last displacing domestic supplies, is a key influence. Among year’s estimated flat performance overall, resumed other importers including Europe, Japan and South Korea, expansion of about 3%, to 1,540mt seems likely in 2015. additional volumes are also envisaged. Advantages for industrial bulks related to manufacturing and construction, the largest part, could evolve from reviving COAL economic activity in several regions. The upwards trend in coal trade evidently ceased last year, but growth could resume during 2015. Higher volumes of BULK CARRIER FLEET both steam and coking coal trade are foreseeable. Steam A further slowdown in the world bulk carrier fleet’s coal, the largest portion, comprising almost three-quarters, is expansion over the past twelve months could be followed by still benefiting from growing power station usage of imports an acceleration in 2015, as shown by table 2. An increase of in some countries. In the coking coal segment higher steel 41m deadweight tonnes or over 5%, to 797m dwt at end- production at blast furnace mills using this coal type, in 2015 is estimated. Despite an envisaged rise in scrapping, several areas, could provide more impetus. higher newbuilding deliveries are set to ensure robust fleet Overall world seaborne coal trade during the year ahead growth. TABLE 1: WORLD SEABORNE DRY BULK TRADE IN 3 MAJOR COMMODITIES (MILLION TONNES) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015* Iron ore 1,005 1,069 1,124 1,210 1,336 1,398 Coal 954 1,014 1,111 1,191 1,193 1,215 Grain (including soyabeans) 297 313 328 352 374 376 Total major bulks 2,256 2,396 2,563 2,753 2,903 2,989 % growth from previous year 6.2 7.0 7.4 5.4 3.0 source: Bulk Shipping Analysis estimates and forecasts *forecast TABLE 2: WORLD BULK CARRIER FLEET (MILLION DEADWEIGHT TONNES) 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015* Newbuilding deliveries 80.8 100.0 100.2 62.8 49.0 58.0 Scrapping 6.5 23.2 33.4 23.3 15.9 17.0 Losses 0.4 0.5 0.1 0.4 0.1 0.2 Other adjustments/conversions 4.7 4.0 –1.1 0.0 –0.9 0.0 Net change in fleet 78.6 80.3 65.6 39.1 32.1 40.8 Fleet at end of year 539.1 619.4 685.0 724.1 756.2 797.0 % growth from previous year 14.9 10.6 5.7 4.4 5.4 MARCH 2015 source: Clarkson Research (historical data) & BSA 2015 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 NEWS Good prospects for soybean production in South America “The prospects for soybean production in South America in 2015 country increasing its exports in 2015. China will consolidate its and for the next ten years, are good,” writes Ruben Olveira, position as the foremost world soybean importer, with a volume Marketing & Sales Director, Inspectorate Agriculture Division. of 74mt, as well being the world’s largest soybean processor, with South America will continue being the main world producing 74.5mt crushed. From this it can be seen that 100% of the and exporting area for soybeans, as well as for soybean meal and crushed soybeans by China for its domestic market is imported. TRADE & COMMODITIES soybean oil. And this trend will remain in the years to 2024/25, a time at “We base our assessments on our intimate knowledge of the which the Chinese will need to increase their soybean imports market having served all parts of the soybean complex in South by 33.7mt, thus reaching a total of 107.7mt. This is equivalent to America over the last two decades. Inspectorate achieves insight the entire soybean production of the United States in this 2014/5 into production in addition to official statistics due to our season. privileged position in assessing quality of crops in Argentina, “Brazil will see the largest increase in exports, with a Brazil and Paraguay not only by country but also by region.