b'ANTWERP XL8American Journal of Transportation ajot.comBreakbulk volumes and rates gain in global shipping resurgenceThe question remains how long can it last?By Peter Buxbaum, AJOTBreakbulkcarriersandOtherreportsindicate container services have beenthatsawntimberoutof competingforcargoforatSouthEast Asia,whichfor leastadecade.Commodi- decades has been shipped in tieslikesteel,forestprod- containers, now making their ucts, and chemicals shifted toway onto breakbulk vessels. containers when freight ratesAluminumshipmentsare ANTWERP XLwere low and shipping linesbeingloadedontobreak-didalltheycouldtoattractbulk vessels in Malaysia and those cargoes. Some automo- theMiddleEast.Andthe bile carriers poached lift-on/ Estonia-basedfreightfor-lift-offprojectcargofromwarder CF&S reported it had the multipurpose vessel fleet.recently loaded 700 tons of A downturn in the oil sectorbagged fertilizers, feed, andBREAKBULK QUARTERLYalsoleftbreakbulkcapacitychemicalsfromXingangto underutilized,leadingtoa(RESURGENCEcontinued falloff in breakbulk rates. on page 12)That situation appears to have reversed itself, at least tosomedegree,inrecent months.Governmentstimu-lusmeasuresandpent-up demand during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to an increase in consumer spend-ingandasurgeofimports. Consumer goods imports saw growthof25%duringthe first-quarter of 2021, accord-ingtoU.S.CensusBureau figures,withimportsfrom China up 49%. M igrATion ToMpV STheglutofcontainer imports has overheated that seg-ment, leading to rate increases, and, combined with container shortagesinsomeplacesand variousotherpop-upsupply-chain disruptions, has led to a migrationofsometraditionalFIND OUTbreakbulkcargoesfromcon- MORE tainersbacktomultipurpose breakbulkvessels.Thetrend, which first appeared in 2020, has become so pronounced that7 - 9 DECEMBER 2021 thependulumisnowswing- ANTWERP EXPO | ANTWERPingintheoppositedirection, with capacity crunches and rate SHAPING THE FUTUREincreases on the breakbulk side.S&P Global has reported OF BREAKBULKthatpetrochemicaltraders inChinahaveswitchedto breakbulkduetotightcon-taineravailabilityandpoor schedulereliability.This shift is clearly visible in puri-fiedterephthalicacida solidchemicalusedfor makingpolyesterclothing andplasticbottleswhere more buyers are switching to breakbulkcarriersforship-ments to destinations such as India, a report said. As much as50%oftheproductis arriving in India from China on breakbulk vessels.Producersandphysical tradersofmetals,agricul-tural,chemical,andtimber products have also been start-ingtobookshipmentsinBOOK YOUR STAND NOW Host sponsorbreakbulk vessels, the S&P Global report noted. On theWWW.ANTWERPXL.COMmetalsfront,themainmar-kets making the switch so far are steel and aluminum. Easyfairs_AXL21_203x254_Findoutmore.indd 1 16/06/2021 10:23:35'