Breadbox Shipping Lines has added five new vessels to its permanent f leet to strengthen its multipurpose/project services.According to Yusuf Yusufoglu, trade manager MPP, these vessels are already active in its trades from Europe-Mediterranean to West Africa.“They have also proven, however, to be very well suited to complement our inter-Africa trade lane. In addition to the extension of our f leet, we have also recently invested in a terminal in the port of Dakar in Senegal,” Yusufoglu told Freight News.This new terminal, known as the Dakar Multipurpose Te r m i n a l (DMT), will provide the company with improved storage space which is currently very scarce in Dakar, as well as help to manage the port congestion better. Yusufoglu said there was optimism in the project sector considering some of the developments in West Africa at present. “The biggest project developments are the start of new large-scale oil and gas projects, including some lng projects.”He said the Tortue project, in particular, was of importance for the project sector in West Africa. This LNG project on the maritime border of Mauritania and Senegal is progressing well. Yusufoglu said this project, like many of the others in West Africa, offered significant opportunity to lines such as Breadbox. “The opportunity for us lies in acquiring a share of the project cargo traffic that will be brought in by the Tortue project. Since the founding of our company in 2001, we have established ourselves as a West Africa specialist carrier and we are perfectly positioned to service the increased traffic we expect, particularly to/from Senegal and Mauritania.”More generally speaking there were also a lot of spot market opportunities for shipowners. “During the past months, we have seen a steep increase in the MPP market rates where owners have started enjoying a firm market.”He said West Africa was not without challenges – with the biggest being port congestion. “Over the past year we have seen a substantial increase in port congestion. It is now quite common to spend a minimum two to three days, and even up to 15 days at anchorage at most West African ports. The situation has been exacerbated by the recent strikes and organisational changes we have experienced in a number of countries in West Africa, leading to a further pile-up.”Commenting on volumes, he said there had been a definite increase, not only in project cargoes but generally across the MPP market. “The demand for breakbulk and project cargo services has surged. One of the reasons behind this is the delays the pandemic caused to many of the projects, leading to a pile-up of cargo shipments over many months which have now started moving again.”Yusufoglu said this, together with other developments like the sharp price increases in the container market, had seen the market shift from being a charterer market to an owners’ market in a few short months.“The outlook for the project and breakbulk market is therefore very positive at the moment. We expect the market to continue to grow during the remainder of the year. As we hopefully move beyond the Covid-19 pandemic, our expectation is that demand for project cargo shipments will continue to increase over the next few years.”