BBC grows South American presence

The heavy lift and project cargo shipping line, BBC Chartering and Logistics, is busy increasing its presence in South American waters, but with an accompanying need for a footprint in the emerging markets in Africa, according to CEO, Svend Andersen. There is a significant increase in discharging activities in South American ports, BBC noted from its own fleet records, but this is being increasingly accompanied by more local trading along the coast of Brazil, he told FTW. “This seems a natural development and requires any player to adjust his competitive strategy in this market,” he added. To meet this demand trend, the shipping line is increasing local content. Andersen suggested that maintaining a strong regional footprint in this market continued to be of high importance. And this is evident from an upgrading of the BBC services focusing on the South Americas trade. According to Jamilette de la Paz, vice-president of liner services based in Houston, the planned upgrading of the BBC Andino Express Line – a south- and northbound liner service connecting Houston with the east coast of South America – forms part of the company’s strategy to grow its Americas footprint. “We are switching to a weekly rotation on this important connection,” she told FTW, “a service which officially starts this December.” But Andersen is convinced that a strong presence in most emerging markets, including those in Africa, is also important in the current business environment. And SA plays its role in this emerging market concentration. Heavy-lift and project cargo shipments to, from and via SA are a very important part of the BBC Chartering focus on Africa, according to Andersen. “Over the past three years we have seen a strong increase in loading activities in SA – which almost tripled. In the same timeframe, discharging activities increased by 50-60%.” While in general the mining sector seems to dominate the local demand for shipping capacity, the offshore oil/gas industry is also still a driver for shipping demands, he said. CAPTION Mining sector ramps up capacity demands.