b'6American Journal of Transportation ajot.comMultipurpose vessels:BREAKBULK QUARTERLYa comeback in 2021?With container vessels stuffed to capacity, breakbulk cargoes are returning to break-bulk carriers.By Peter Buxbaum, AJOTThebreakbulkshippingresulted from spiking demand segment has been in the dol- for Asian goods beginning in drums in recent years, but theJuly 2020, thanks to pent-up sectormaybepoisedforademandintheaftermathof reboundin2021.Breakbulkthe easing of the COVID-19 cargoes, which are carried inshutdowns. Drewry estimated cratesandbags,onpallets,thatglobalcontainerport oras is the case with proj- throughputdeclinedalmost ect cargolifted on and off6% in the first half of 2020, vessels have faced a myriadandthenboomedover10% of challenges. through the final six months A downturn in oil explo- of the year. That boom is con-rationanddrillingwasonetinuing into 2021.factor that left less breakbulk cargo available for the carri- t woI mpaCtS onmpp Sers that handled them. SomeThese conditions have had automobilecarrierspoached(COMEBACKcontinued somelift-on/lift-offprojecton page 9) The AAL Singapore sails into port.cargo from the multipurpose vesselfleet.Breakbulkhas also faced competition from containers,assometradi-tionalbreakbulkcommodi-ties like paper and wood pulp shiftedtoboxesinrecent yearsthankstolowfreight rates.Butthecurrentglut of container imports and the strained capacity of the con-tainerfleetalongwithrate increasescouldreversethat trend in a big way. Likethecontainerbusi-ness until recently, the mul-tipurposevesselfleethas suffered from an overcapac-ity that has led to downward pressure on rates, and that has turned up the heat on compe-tition. But after several years ofasupplyglut,capacity began tightening up last year.Thelasttenyearshave been tough ones for multipur-posevesseloperators,said MichaelMorland,General ManagerAmericasatAAL ShippinginHouston.With increasedcompetitionandan oversupply in the market, some vessels are now leaving market, which is a good sign.Michael Morland, General Manager Americas at AAL ShippingOver the last six months, the multipurpose vessel seg-ment has been able to com-mandhigherrates.The containermarkethasbeen inasqueezeandoverflow cargo has been going to mul-tipurpose vessels, said Mor-land. That has pushed rates upwardsandIsuspectthat will continue in 2021.Thecontainersqueeze'