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.”