Contrary to the dramatic changes in supply and demand expected in the consumer goods industry, the project cargo sector will be less affected. Volumes will, however, decrease in the current depressed economic environment.Speaking during a recent online webinar on what lies ahead for the breakbulk sector, Marco Poisler, head of the energy project team of forwarding company UTC Overseas, said the decline in global growth was hitting all regions of the world and it would inf lict steep declines in output.“Already we have seen the impact of Covid-19 on the currencies in emerging markets – a 32% drop in value for the South African Rand, 24% for the Mexican Peso, 23% for the Brazilian Real and 14% for the Turkish Lira to name a few. These are all countries that are important regions in the world for purchasing industrialised goods. Shipping contracts are typically done in dollars and costs are going to be a lot higher. Some are saying it is positive for exports, but if the demand is simply not there, then this is a concern.”Poisler said China was one of the biggest commodity importers in the world and figures continued to drop, showing the lack in demand. Both aluminium and copper imports will decrease significantly this year. In its most recent move the Chinese indicated they would not declare their GDP in 2020. “This is bad news for projects, because it will all have a spill-over effect. If price levels are not there for commodities and there is no demand, investors will not say go forth with more projects.”Poisler said while there was talk of reducing dependency on China, it was more integrated in the global economy than ever before.“Government spending, not only in China but around the world, will be critical to follow,” said Poisler. “Some 37 of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries are expected to pump $17 trillion dollars into this crisis. Hopes are high that once a vaccine is around some of that money will be used to move cargo around.”He said the market was currently very disruptive and not an economy in the world was not under pressure.“We are not going to recover overnight. It will be slow and long, but eventually it will come right. The cargoes we carry in the breakbulk and heavy haul sector will not change. What we do and how we do it will not be that different now and later than what it was before the crisis. We are not going to see the disruption that the consumer goods sector will see in demand. Our biggest challenge will be in the long, extended period we have to survive before it goes back to normal.