ESPO
ANNUAL REPORT 2006-2007

 

6. The dry bulk market

6.1 Iron ore and coal production and seaborne dry bulk trades

As mentioned in the first chapter of this Market Report, a total volume 4.69 billion tons of dry cargo was shipped in 2005. This consisted of 1.70 billion tons of the five major bulks (iron ore, coal, grains, bauxite/alumina and rock phosphate), 950 million tons minor dry bulks and 2.04 billion tons other dry cargoes. The latter category mainly refers to containerized cargo and other general cargo, including RoRo.

According to Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation, world production of iron ore reached 1.26 billion tons in 2005, some 4.3% higher than the year before (Table 44). The top-five countries (Brazil, Australia, China, India and Russia) produced nearly 1 billion tons, giving them a combined market share of 79%. A similar picture applies to the export side, where the top-five countries (Australia, Brazil, India, Canada and South Africa) exported 600 million tons of iron ore in 2005, for a combined market share of 84%. Table 44 also illustrates that some 57% of worldwide iron ore production was exported in 2005. Countries such as Canada, Australia, Sweden, Brazil and South Africa put most of their iron ore production on the export market. On the other hand, China, the Ukraine, the United States and Russia used most (if not all) of their iron ore production for domestic purposes. The situation in India was rather balanced, with 55% of iron ore production exported and 45% used for domestic purposes. Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation forecasts a production volume of some 1.65 billion tons of iron ore for 2010.

 

Table 44: Production and exports of iron ore in 2005 (million tons)

Production	m tons	%	Exports	m tons	%	% of prod.
Brazil	293	23%	Australia	239	34%	91%
Australia	262	21%	Brazil	225	32%	77%
China	198	16%	India	81%	11%	55%
India	146	12%	Canada	28	4%	100%
Russia	97	8%	South Africa	27	4%	68%
Ukraine	69	5%	Russia	20	3%	21%
United States	55	4%	Ukraine	20	3%	29%
South Africa	40	3%	Sweden	18	3%	78%
Canada	28	2%	United States	12	2%	22%
Sweden	23	2%	China	0	0%	0%
Others	44	4%	Others	43	6%
World total	1,255	100%	World total	713	100%	57%

Source: Baffinland Iron Mines Corportation (2006)

 

The World Coal Institute estimates that global production of hard coal reached 4.97 billion tons in 2005, a 7.4% increase over the year before. The top-10 hard coal producers were China (2.23bn tons), the United States (951m tons), India (398m tons), Australia (301m tons), South Africa (240m tons), Russia (222m tons), Indonesia (140m tons), Poland (98m tons), Kazakhstan (79m tons) and Colombia (61m tons). Hence, these countries accounted for 95% of worldwide hard coal production in 2005. Worldwide consumption of hard coal reached 4.99 billion tons in 2005, of which 63% in the Asia-Pacific region, 19% in North America, 7% in Europe and 6% in the Former Soviet Union. Finally, the total brown coal/lignite production is estimated at 905 million tons in 2005. Major brown coal producers include Germany, the United States, Russia, Greece and Australia.

Tables 45, 46 and 47 depict the import-export matrices for the three main dry bulk categories in 2004, the most recent years for which this detailed information is available.

 

Table 45: Export-Import matrix for seaborne coal trade in 2004 (million tons)

From/to	UK/Cont.	Mediter.	Other Eur.	S.America	Japan	Other FE	Others	Total
FSU/E.Europe	26.1	18.6	10.2	0.3	9.3	7.1	1.9	73.6
North America	12.9	5.8	4.6	8.2	10.2	9.2	3.5	54.5
Australia	19.3	3.3	6.9	10.3	102.5	59.3	23.4	225.0
South Africa	24.2	7.4	14.4	2.2	0.0	1.3	6.3	56.0
Others	24.2	11.9	10.0	5.1	57.9	107.4	39.5	256.0
Total	106.7	47.1	46.1	25.7	180.0	184.5	74.6	664.7

Source: Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (2006)

 

Table 46: Export-Import matrix for seaborne iron ore trade in 2004 (million tons)

From/to	UK/Cont.	Mediter.	Other Eur.	US	Japan	China	Other FE	Others	Total
Scandinavia	6.6	0.8	0.9	0.0	0.0	0.7	0.2	6.7	15.8
Other Europe	0.5	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	0.9	3.4	5.2
West Africa	7.6	0.0	0.7	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	2.7	11.0
Other Africa	7.2	0.3	3.2	0.0	10.1	17.0	1.6	2.3	41.7
North America	12.0	1.3	0.3	0.0	0.9	1.9	2.3	4.5	23.2
S.America Atl.	46.2	2.4	8.1	7.5	27.1	54.4	20.9	38.2	204.8
S.America Pac.	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.4	4.1	5.7	3.0	0.6	13.8
Asia	0.6	0.1	0.0	0.0	21.9	39.8	3.7	2.1	68.3
Australia	14.6	1.0	0.5	0.1	76.3	69.6	38.8	5.2	206.1
Total	95.3	5.9	13.7	8.0	140.4	189.6	71.3	65.7	589.8

Source: Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (2006)

 

Table 47: Export-Import matrix for seaborne grain trade in 2004 (million tons)

From/to	US	Canada	S.America	Australia	Others	Total
UK/Continent	2.8	0.7	6.0	0.0	0.3	9.8
Mediterranean	4.0	1.7	6.1	0.7	3.5	16.0
East Europe	0.6	0.0	0.6	0.0	3.5	4.8
Other Europe	0.4	0.1	2.2	0.0	0.4	3.1
Africa	14.6	2.2	7.4	3.8	12.0	40.1
Americas	26.5	3.2	7.8	0.2	0.2	37.9
Near East	3.6	0.0	1.0	0.1	2.9	7.6
Indian Ocean	2.1	0.8	4.7	6.7	5.0	19.2
Japan	22.8	1.7	0.8	2.7	0.7	28.6
Other Far East	30.1	5.2	16.4	9.9	6.7	68.4
Not specified	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.5	0.0	0.5
Total	107.6	15.7	53.0	24.6	35.1	236.0

Source: Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (2006)

 

Table 48 provides an overview of the main dry cargo (all categories combined) loading and unloading areas in 2005. On the loading and unloading side, developed market-economy countries accounted for more than half of total trade.

 

Table 48: Loading and unloading areas for dry cargo in 2005

Area	Loaded	Unloaded	Area	Loaded	Unloaded
North America	502.8	442.20	Caribbean. Central and North America	65.3	86.1
Europe	1,065.1	1,514.90	South America North and East	392.6	91.7
Japan	185.5	584.70	South America West	119.9	34.6
Australia/New-Zealand	604.4	47.90	Subtotal developing countries in America	577.8	212.4
South Africa	171.6	23.50	West Asia	72.7	140.6
Subtotal DMECs	2,529.4	2,613.2	South and East Asia	761.7	914.9
Central and Eastern Europe	181	67.4	Subtotal developing countries in Asia	834.4	1,055.5
Socialist countries of Asia	478.4	583.9	Developing Countries in Europe	16.9	11.1
North Africa	38	84.3	Developing Countries in Oceania	2.1	5.5
West Africa	19.6	42.1	Subtotal developing countries	1,498.1	1,431.4
East Africa	9.3	20.5
Subtotal developing countries in Africa	66.9	146.9	World total	4,686.9	4,695.9

Source: UNCTAD (2006)

Finally, Figure 5 provides an overview of the dry bulk seaborne trade in 2006. Total trade amounted to some 2.15 billion tons, of which iron ore (31%), thermal coal (24%) and minor bulks (22%) represented the lion's share. Figure 5 also clearly illustrates the importance of the steel industry for dry bulk shipping: iron ore, coking coal and bauxite/alumina represented a combined volume of 937 million tons or nearly 44% of the total dry bulk seaborne trade in 2006. In addition, (semi-) finished steel products (which indeed classify as general cargo rather than dry bulk) represented a total volume of 218 million tons of seaborne trade in 2006.

According to the International Iron and Steel Institute, the production of crude steel reached an estimated 1.22 billion tons in 2006, an increase of some 8% compared to the year before. The top-10 crude steel producers were China (421m tons), Japan (116m tons), the United States (99m tons), Russia (71m tons), South Korea (48m tons), Germany (47m tons), India (43m tons), Ukraine (41m tons), Italy (32m tons) and Brazil (31m tons). Hence, these countries accounted for three quarters of worldwide crude steel production in 2006. Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation forecasts a further increase in world crude steel production to some 1.46 billion tons in 2010.

China is a particular case in point as far as crude steel is concerned. Until 2004 the country was a net importer of crude steel, but following massive increases in production in 2005 (+24.6%) and 2006 (+18.5%) the balance has shifted. According to French broker Barry Rogliano Salles, the gap between production and consumption of crude steel in China amounted to some 36 million tons in 2006 and it is expected to widen further to some 140 million tons in 2010. Having said this, however, Chinese consumption of crude steel is still very substantial. Of the estimated total world crude steel consumption of 1.13 billion tons in 2005, China accounted for 350m tons (31%), followed by the United States (113m tons), Japan (83m tons), South Korean (49m tons), India (41m tons) and Germany (39m tons). Hence, these six countries accounted for some 60% of world crude steel consumption in 2005.

 

6.2 Some key figures on the dry bulk fleet

Table 49 provides an overview of the dry bulk fleet for selected dates. At the first of July 2006 the total fleet reached 353.62m dwt, a 21.4% increase compared to the beginning of 2002. This is slightly lower than the 22.4% increase in the dwt capacity of the world merchant fleet over the period considered. As a result, the share of dry bulk vessel capacity in the world fleet marginally decreased from 36.4% at the beginning of 2002 to 36.1% at mid-2006.

 

Table 49: Overview of the dry bulk fleet for selected dates

	01-01-2002		01/07/2006	Growth
	('000 dwt)	%	('000 dwt)	%
Bulk carriers	277,067	95.2%	346,412	98.0%	25.0%
Oil/bulk/ore carriers (OBO)	14,108	4.8%	7,211	2.0%	-48.9%
Total dry bulk fleet	291,175	100%	353,623	100%	21.4%
World merchant fleet	799,763	978.522	22.4%

Source: Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (2006)

 

Table 50 provides an overview of the dry bulk fleet divided by dwt range for 01/01/2006. As far as bulk carriers are concerned, nearly 65% of dwt capacity is provided by vessels in the 20,000-99,999 dwt range. Vessels above 100,000 dwt represent hardly 10% of the total number of ships, but they provide some 33% of the dwt capacity. Secondly, the oil/bulk/ore vessels are heavily concentrated in the 70,000-149,999 dwt range, with only two vessels being bigger than 200,000 dwt.

 

Table 50: Breakdown of the dry bulk fleet by dwt range (as at 01/01/2006)

	Bulk carriers			Oil/bulk/ore carriers
Dwt range	ships	'000 dwt	% dwt	ships	'000 dwt	% dwt
0-9.999	877	2.883	0.9%	47	156	1.9%
0,000-9,999	499	7,858	2.4%	3	43	0.5%
20,000-49,999	2722	93,871	28.1%	8	359	4.4%
50,000-69,999	888	52,941	15.9%	12	706	8.7%
70,000-99,999	842	63,519	19.0%	43	3,553	43.9%
100,000-149,999	153	21,412	6.4%	18	2,021	25.0%
150,000-199,999	441	74,833	22.4%	4	638	7.9%
200,000-299,999	66	14,360	4.3%	0	0	0.0%
300,000-399,999	6	1,954	0.6%	216	2	7.6%
400,000+	0	0	0.0%	0	0	0.0%
Total dry bulk fleet	6494	333,631	100%	137	8.088	100%

Source: Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (2006)

 

Finally, Table 51 provides an overview of the total dry bulk fleet (controlled and registered) by region. As this table indicates, more than 90% of the dry bulk fleet is controlled by owners in Asia/Oceania and Europe. On the other hand, just like was the case for the tanker fleet, the regional tonnage distribution according to the flag of registry shows a strong concentration on Latin and South America.

 

Table 51: World dry bulk fleet (controlled and registered) by region as at 01/01/2006 (percentages based on dwt)

		million	Share
		dwt
Controlled fleet	Europe	129.5	37.9%
	North America	7.2	2.1%
	Latin and South America	3.3	1.0%
	Asia and Oceania	180.3	52.8%
	Africa	0.9	0.3%
	Unknown	20.1	5.9%
Registered fleet	Europe	60.2	17.6%
	North America	0.7	0.2%
	Latin and South America	135.7	39.8%
	Asia and Oceania	123.8	36.3%
	Africa	20.8	6.1%
	Total	341.3	100%

Source: Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics (2006)

 

6.3 European shipping companies active in the dry bulk market

Table 52 provides a (non-exhaustive) overview of the main European shipping companies active in the dry bulk market. Just like with the liquid bulk market, the lion's share of these companies are located in Scandinavia, Germany and Greece. Moreover, quite a number of them are also active in the liquid bulk (LB) market.

 

Table 52: Main European shipping companies active in the dry bulk market

Country	Shipping Company	LB	Country	Shipping Company	LB
Denmark	Norden	X	Spain	Elcano	X
Denmark	Lauritzen	X	France	Louis Dreyfus Arm.
Sweden	Fredriksen group	X	France	Setaf Saget
Norway	Western Bulk		Germany	Schulte group	X
Norway	Eitzen Group	X	Germany	E. Oldendorff	X
Norway	KG Jebsen	X	Germany	Orion Bulkers
Norway	Torvald Klaveness		Germany	Aug. Bolten
Norway	Grieg-Star Shipping		Germany	Peter Döhle
Norway	Spar Shipping		Germany	Vogemann
UK	Zodiac Maritime	X	Germany	Poseidon Schiffahrt	X
UK	Graig group		Germany	ASP Shipmgt	X
UK	Nordbulk		Greece	Angelicoussis	X
Italy	Coeclerici Ceres		Greece	Polembros	X
Italy	Premuda	X	Greece	Enterprises shipping
Italy	D'Amico Nav.	X	Greece	Marmaras Nav.
Italy	Bottiglieri	X	Greece	Golden Union
Italy	Fratelli d'Amato		Greece	Carras Hellas
Belgium	CMB

 

6.4 Dry bulk cargo handled in European seaports

Table 53 provides an overview of dry bulk traffic handled in a selection of European seaports. The table was drawn from a large Eurostat database containing about 350 ports, handling a total throughput of 977 million tons of dry bulk in 2005. However, for the present Report we have limited ourselves to those seaports which handled at least 500,000 tons of dry bulk traffic. This resulted in a total ports sample of about 230 individual ports spread across 24 different countries. Their combined dry bulk throughput amounted to 944 million tons in 2005, effectively representing 97% of the total throughput of the 350 ports in the Eurostat database.

As can be seen from Table 53, the lion's share of this volume was handled in ports in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and France. Between them, these five countries accounted for 564 million tons of dry bulk traffic in 2005. On an individual port basis, by far the biggest dry bulk port is Rotterdam, handling nearly 88 million tons of dry bulk traffic in 2005. This represents 9% of the combined dry bulk throughput of the 350 ports in the Eurostat database. Just as is the case for the liquid bulk market, Rotterdam owes its strong market position to its excellent nautical accessibility (it can receive dry bulk carriers of 300,000 dwt or more), coupled with very good links with major consumption centres in the hinterland (especially the German Ruhr area). Other major dry bulk ports, handling more than 25 million tons per year, include Hamburg (Germany), Antwerp (Belgium), Dunkirk (France), Taranto (Italy) and Amsterdam (Netherlands). Apart from these ports, 15 other ports handled between 10 and 25 million tons of dry bulk cargo in 2005. At the other end of the spectrum, more than 185 ports handled less than 1 million ton of dry bulk cargo.

 

Table 53: Overview of dry bulk handled in European seaports (2005)

Port	tons	Port	tons
Antwerp	26,684,613	Vassilico Vassiliko)	633,108
Ghent	3,054,649	Other Cypriotic ports	810,226
Zeebrugge	1,718,655	Cyprus	1,443,334
Oostende	991,903	Riga	14,938,364
Belgium	42,449,820	Ventspils	10,439,641
Varna	7,373,893	Liepaja	1,680,318
Burgas	3,008,167	Latvia	27,058,323
Bulgaria	10,382,060	Klaipeda	7,462,926
Enstedværkets Havn	3,501,770	Lithuania	7,462,926
Aalborg Portland	2,906,083	Malta (Valetta)	677,411
Århus	2,852,271	Other Maltese ports	2,262
Københavns Havn	2,071,110	Malta	679,673
Odense	2,045,933	Rotterdam	87,694,773
Asnæsværkets Havn	1,273,502	Amsterdam	25,107,777
Esbjerg	1,081,997	Velsen/Ijmuiden	18,666,451
Fredericia (Og Shell-Havnen)	1,031,794	Vlissingen	5,294,507
Aalborg	956,893	Terneuzen	3,742,709
Aabenraa	917,038	Delfzijl/Eemshaven	1,602,575
Kolding	899,228	Dordrecht	1,498,989
Rønne	886,485	Moerdijk	917,123
Randers	883,130	Vlaardingen	801,757
Køge	848,680	Harlingen	771,703
Studstrupværkets Havn	784,281	Other Dutch ports	128,114
Norjyllandsværkets Havn	657,111	Netherlands	146,226,478
Stigsnæsværkets Havn	551,134	Gdansk	9,273,949
Other Danish ports	1,660,02	Swinoujscie	6,666,268
Denmark	25,808,461	Szczecin	5,042,718
Hamburg	27,011,709	Gdynia	3,416,231
Bremen, Blumenthal	6,450,257	Police	2,086,060
Rostock	6,070,366	Poland	26,485,226
Bützfleth	2,660,582	Sines	5,801,572
Nordenham	2,402,055	Lisboa	5,203,093
Brake	2,169,433	Setúbal	3,224,270
Wilhelmshaven	1,902,812	Leixões	2,301,129
Wismar	1,715,976	Aveiro	1,416,233
Brunsbüttel	1,100,480	Other Portuguese ports	484,148
Lübeck	969,895	Portugal	18,430,445
Kiel	739,202	Constanta	18,103,190
Flensburg	551,921	Other Romanian ports	661,268
Other German ports	1,195,886	Romania	18,764,458
Germany	54,940,574	Koper	7,731,876
Tallinn	6,975,427	Slovenia	7,731,876
Other Estonian ports	660,677	Raahe	4,731,628
Estonia	7,636,104	Kokkola	2,709,032
Limerick	9,140,956	Pori	2,241,155
Dublin	1,904,046	Kotka	1,927,939
Cork	1,572,570	Rauma	1,517,683
Waterford	804,438	Inkoo	1,256,830
New Ross	603,558	Koverhar	1,129,189
Other Irish ports	678,395	Helsinki	959,823
Ireland	14,703,963	Parainen	886,985
Volos	7,936,157	Naantali	883,877
Larymna	4,296,759	Uusikaupunki	811,360
Thessaloniki	3,395,929	Kemi	772,516
Aliverio	3,291,121	Pietarsaari	730,546
Eleusina	2,969,907	Other Finnish ports	3,124,832
Milos Island	2,889,663	Finland	23,683,395
Almyros (Amaliapoli) Volou	2,506,300	Luleå	7,135,761
Chalkida	1,628,890	Oxelösund (ports)	4,211,861
Itea	1,405,638	Karlshamn	2,699,808
Antikyra	1,296,946	Storugns	2,503,999
Politika (074)	1,205,320	Slite (ports)	2,317,922
Rio	1,134,524	Stockholm	1,022,408
Kavala	1,067,136	Köping	991,615
Heraklio	824,489	Skellefteå	989,047
Nafplio	657,636	Norrköping	873,247
Igoumenitsa	652,925	Halmstad	812,336
Other Greek ports	947,947	Västerås	721,196
Greece	38,107,287	Malmö	597,861
Gijón	19,663,187	Uddevalla	571,599
Tarragona	11,915,749	Helsingborg	500,756
Ferrol	8,289,625	Other Swedish ports	1,801,779
Huelva	7,530,686	Sweden	27,751,195
Valencia	6,360,690	Immingham	20,735,227
Almería	6,306,756	London	15,002,694
Santander	5,139,651	Tees & Hartlepool	12,401,973
Cartagena	5,027,915	Clydeport	11,281,993
La Coruña	4,437,796	Liverpool	8,891,227
Bilbao	4,261,135	Port Talbot	8,569,720
Barcelona	3,532,003	Bristol	6,415,974
Castellón	3,293,592	Medway	5,471,213
Pasajes	3,273,904	Glensanda	5,438,705
Avilés	3,082,737	Hull	3,784,965
Sevilla	2,813,380	Belfast	3,444,407
Algeciras	2,652,267	Southampton	2,234,526
Cádiz	2,557,444	Newport, Gwent	2,072,789
Palma Mallorca	2,389,763	Tyne	1,920,976
Málaga	2,100,472	Ipswich	1,817,462
Santa Cruz de Tenerife	1,892,082	Manchester	1,658,800
Las Palmas	1,785,378	Forth	1,650,822
Alicante	1,667,539	Shoreham	1,382,108
Molina de Segura	1,234,823	Fowey	1,270,154
Marín-Pontevedra	1,016,240	River Hull & Humber	983,447
Vigo	692,535	Ballylumford	976,836
Villagarcía (de Arosa)	578,413	Trent River	861,106
Other Spanish ports	155,656	Plymouth	832,969
Spain	113,651,418	Newhaven	659,216
Dunkerque	26,314,341	Londonderry	655,932
Marseille	15,363,075	Other UK ports	5,046,796
Nantes Saint-Nazaire	8,348,756	United Kingdom	125,462,037
Rouen	8,040,885	Bakar	2,242,427
Le Havre	4,848,293	Ploce	2,196,708
La Rochelle	3,266,933	Split	1,362,296
Bordeaux	2,648,341	Pula	807,247
Sète	1,768,116	Rabac	726,424
Bayonne	1,569,330	Rijeka	512,835
Lorient	1,455,032	Other Croatian ports	1,190
Port Réunion (ex Pointe-des-Galets)	1,290,686	Croatia	7,849,127
Brest	1,041,243	Narvik	15,921,615
Calais	827,004	Porsgrunn Ports	5,589,901
Port-la-Nouvelle	749,859	Bergen Ports	2,575,692
Guadeloupe (Guadeloupe)	723,138	Haugesund Ports	2,554,026
Caen	592,521	Brønnøy	1,931,784
Other French ports	1,132,204	Kristiansund N/Grip	1,852,343
France	79,979,757	Mo i Rana/Rana	1,798,880
Taranto	25,453,936	Oslo	1,329,626
Ravenna	12,962,076	Fredrikstad/Sarpsborg	1,281,702
Venezia	11,224,317	Stavanger Ports	1,248,499
Brindisi	6,339,720	Drammen Ports	1,044,766
Portovesme	4,514,519	Verdal/Levanger	793,962
Savona-Vado	4,467,391	Trondheim/Flakk	685,347
Piombino	4,375,254	Kristiansand S	586,807
Genova	3,551,330	Moss	571,880
Porto Torres	2,179,487	Other Norwegian ports	11,244,799
Trieste	2,130,276	Norway	51,011,629
La Spezia	1,853,761
Ancona	1,548,162
Chioggia	1,537,450	Total all ports	977,021,358
Oristano	1,502,718
Bari	1,258,013
Livorno	1,235,020
Monfalcone	1,060,197
Napoli	1,036,517
Civitavecchia	1,025,408
Marina Di Carrara	1,015,161
Porto Empedocle	936,783
Augusta	896,868
Pozzallo	853,816
Manfredonia	811,342
Barletta	801,491
Salerno	761,102
Gaeta	604,005
Porto Nogaro	500,279
Other Italian ports	2,885,393
Italy	99,321,792

Source: Eurostat

 

 

Overview of main developments in the European dry bulk market during 2006

Development of the bulk carrier fleet in 2006 According to Clarkson Research Services Ltd, the world bulk carrier fleet counted 6369 units at the end of 2006, for a combined capacity of 367.9 million dwt. This represents an increase of some 7% compared to the year before. At the end of 2006 worldwide orderbooks counted no less than 1138 bulk carriers (of which 354 to be delivered in 2007) for a combined capacity of 89.42 million dwt. This is some 24% of the bulk carrier fleet capacity at the end of 2006. Finally, 49 bulk carriers were sent to the scrapyards in 2006, for a combined 1.87 million dwt capacity.   Port/terminal development in Europe (non-exhaustive) A new facility at OBA Bulk Terminal Amsterdam, one of Europe's largest bulk terminals, consisting of a 365m quay and a 10 ha storage and handling area, opened in October 2006. This will give the terminal an annual throughput capacity of 4m tons. Further development will include two Capesize quays and an additional 20-25ha of storage area. This year, LBH is going to build an indented berth, 400m long and 80m wide, for barges. When these projects are completed, Amsterdam's coal handling facilities will have been expanded from 85ha to 115ha. The Port of Immingham's '59.5 m dedicated coal-handling facility, Humber International Terminal 2 (HIT 2), was officially opened in May 2006. HIT 2 is located close to six of Britain's largest power stations. It was developed to meet the power-generation industry's escalating demand for coal. The terminal can handle an estimated 9.5m tons of coal each year. In August 2006 the facility handled a record-breaking total of 1.095m tons, of which 1.022m tons was coal. HIT 2 extends Humber International Terminal's total quay length by 220m, giving a total of 520m, and can accommodate vessels carrying more than 100,000 tons of cargo. In August 2006, Associated British Ports (ABP) announced to invest '3.7m in two new Gottwald cranes for Humber International Terminal 1, the dedicated dry bulk handling terminal at the port of Immingham. Following the signing of a new 20-year agreement with Solent Stevedores, ABP is investing '4.1m in upgrading the handling and storage facilities at Southampton's Bulk Terminal. The investment comprises '1.6m earmarked for a new mobile harbour crane, and '2.5m for a new multi-purpose transit shed, which will be completed in 2007. ABP has also invested over '700,000 on upgrading the handling equipment in Ayr. In addition to ABP's investment, Solent Stevedores has spent approximately '350,000 on shore-side equipment in the port of Southampton in 2006, with additional investments of '250,000 planned for 2007 and 2008. A new high-capacity screw-type ship unloader has been commissioned at the Seaforth Grain Terminal, which enables bulk carriers of up to 75,000dwt to be discharged at the terminal with unloading capacities of up to 1,800 tons per hour. Workington, the largest port in Cumbria, has invested over '8m in the latest phase of developments at Battleship Wharf with new carnage already in place capable of discharging over 10,000 tons of cargo per day. The port opened a new rail link in September in 2006 with a quay extension due for completion by the end of the year. The port is investing approximately '7.8m in the upgrade of its main bulk terminal, Battleship Wharf. It is to construct a 155m quay extension, build a rail link, improve site infrastructure and upgrade support vehicles. This is in addition to the new 100 ton capacity harbour crane that was purchased earlier 2006. This is the biggest investment by the port in decades and has been implemented to cope with the increasing bulk trades being handled at the port. ABP's port of Teignmouth took an important step forward when the Western Quays was officially opened during August 2006. The Western Quays is the product of a '5m investment by ABP and represents a huge enhancement of the port's cargo-handling facilities. A number of new developments were completed at Dunkirk's multibulk facilities in the central area of the port. The Vracs du Nord cement terminal that exports ground slag produced by the new crushing plant of Ciment des Flandres, and the Dunkerque Multibulk Terminal, which has facilities for handling and storing under cover of powdered bulk products, were both completed in 2006.   Other significant developments (non-exhaustive) The containerization of bulks is a rapidly developing sector. As an example, it has now become cheaper to move barley and other grains in containers to Asia than using Panamax Bulk carriers. Port logistics and terminal operator Société Havraise de Gestion et de Transport (SHGT) has recently invested ' 2m in developing a system to put sugar in containers in the port of Le Havre. Despite being a relative newcomer on the dry bulk market, "K" Line (Europe) already established several contracts, both long and short term, with major European steel mills, trading houses and power companies worldwide. A new Capesize vessel of 185,500 dwt was to be delivered in the first half of 2006. In early 2007 Navios Maritime Holdings (Greece) took over Kleimar, the dry bulk shipping company of Belgium's Sea-Invest group, for a reported '128 million. The Kleimar fleet, specialized for the transport of coal and iron ore, comprises 30 vessels of which 20 Capesizes and 10 Panamaxes. In 2005 Kleimar transported some 27 million tons of dry bulk cargo. Sea-Invest is one of the largest (if not the largest) bulk handling companies in Europe, active in the handling and storage of such commodities as iron ore, coal, fertilizers and liquid bulk. It is also a major player on the European fruit handling scene. Source: International Bulk Journal and various trade press articles

 

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