Renewable energy sector among the drivers of growth

The project cargo sector is slowly emerging from its downturn with the outlook at present far better than it has been for the past two years. According to Raymond Fisch, senior vice president at BBC Chartering & Logistics, a healthy demand and sensible order books in various industry sectors have led to an improvement in the sector, but he said it still faced serious competition from both dry bulk tonnage and ‘pure’ container carriers. “The project cargo sector remains an attractive industry,” said Fisch. “Growth becomes a matter of definition of many things, mainly concerning economies and goods moving. The industry today still lacks a unique definition of what qualifies as project cargo, and port statistics have no common understanding of it either.” But, as long as the global investment machine runs and the geo-political situation supports global economic development, humans will always drive the game, he told FTW. “How you label this does not really matter. It matters how well a company is prepared to anticipate change and trends and makes respective decisions that allow it to create value.” He said the industry was currently moving as a whole but also in individual modes, boding well for future growth. “We are currently experiencing the so-called BRIC phase in global economic development where countries like Brazil, India and China represent the driving engines of global trade. This trend is a sustainable source of transport demand for years to come. “Second, the oil, gas, power, utility, mechanical engineering, heavy machinery and metal industries are all dependent on efficient transport solutions that can reach remote locations and ports across the world,” he said. “Thirdly, if you look regionally you will also see other demands arising in developed countries that are associated with the renewable energy sector. Especially the wind industry is currently taking a significant share of the transport capacity in heavy-lift shipping.”