Project cargo

Baker Hughes, Halliburton and SLB, key drivers of oil and gas project cargoes, say infrastructure repair in the Middle East and supply diversification moves outside the region should result in a heavy book of post-war work.

The near-term view for the industry is heavily dependent on how quickly the war in the Middle East is resolved, experts said at the Journal of Commerce’s Breakbulk and Project Cargo Conference 2026.

While there have been some schedule changes for multipurpose vessels, reliability is still sufficient only because the shock hasn’t gotten through the system yet — and conditions will likely worsen from there, conference attendees were told.

Tariff refunds might be available for many breakbulk companies, but they still need to prepare for the possibility of new levies, conference attendees were told.

Forwarders are juggling a steady stream of distractions while balancing a workforce to meet ever-evolving hot-button topics, conference attendees were told.

Assessing maritime choke points and leveraging partnerships in regions around the globe will serve as important strategies for EPC companies and forwarders in developing contingency plans for their projects.

Unveiled at Breakbulk26 in New Orleans this week, the Journal of Commerce’s new Breakbulk Shipper Index tracks a range of indicators including changes in volumes carried by different vessel types, lead time for chartering vessels, and load and discharge regions.

An increasing number of lawmakers at the federal, state, and municipal levels are taking steps to freeze data center development, which serves as an important cargo source.

The repair and rebuilding of oil, gas and petrochemical facilities in the Middle East will provide project cargoes for the specialist fleet at least through the end of the decade, observers say.

Total transit collapse and escalating infrastructure threats are forcing project cargo shippers to step up their contingency planning.

Suppliers and manufacturers are unwilling to make long-lead investments in next-gen nuclear projects without credible signals that the demand for them exists, according to a new report.

TotalEnergies accepted a $1 billion payment from the Trump administration to walk away from two offshore wind projects and instead reinvest the funds in fossil fuel projects along the Gulf Coast.

Houston and New Orleans are coming off a year of growth for project cargo volumes, albeit with a drop in steel imports, and both ports anticipate a continuation of those trends.

With liquefied natural gas flows at a standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, a near-doubling of LNG export capacity in the US is set to drive breakbulk and project cargo activity into the next decade.

Nineteen MPVs are stuck in the Persian Gulf, while bunker costs have increased by $3 to $7 per ton of cargo as a result of the Middle East war, according to one vessel operator.

Engineering, procurement and construction companies, key shippers of project cargo, are expecting an uptick in business in 2026.

Onshore wind and AI energy support offer twin strands of positivity for wind shippers operating in the US despite the Trump administration’s battle against renewable energy.

A record number of wind farm installations in 2025 has set the tone for accelerated year-over-year demand growth for wind components, according to the Global Wind Energy Council.

In the wake of several successful appeals that crimped Donald Trump’s executive order banning new projects, wind developers are racing against the clock to complete work as quickly as possible.

As volumes of new energy generation and storage technologies increase, shippers expect more documentation, transparency and greater control over risk, according to project forwarders and carriers.

Canceled renewable energy projects in the US totaled $35 billion in 2025 as more project funds left the country than came in amid the federal government’s shifting policies to prioritize fossil fuels.

Inland water transport offers a lower-emission alternative routing for out-of-gauge cargoes, with cost-efficiency, lower energy consumption, and fewer accidents, among other advantages.

Power generation cargoes are on the rise amid surging demand linked to data centers, but cargo generated by oil projects will be on shakier ground in 2026.

Norden, Stena RoRo and Meriaura commit to up to 15 new ships as the resilience of the MPV market is reflected in the most recent quarterly sentiment index published by One World Shipbrokers.

“Lumpy” project cargo demand is expected to lead to overutilization of the global multipurpose vessel fleet, participants in a Journal of Commerce webinar were told.

A drop in air freight charter rates has put the option of project cargoes moving by air back on the table.

The orders come amid continued strong growth in the global wind energy sector as turbines, blades and monopiles provide stable cargo for MPV and heavy-lift operators.

But rapid development of the record 8.4 gigawatts of new offshore capacity could lead to ship capacity constraints and logistical bottlenecks.

Onshore and offshore renewables projects will drive shipments of turbines and transformers, carriers in the sector say.

Power generation cargoes gave the heavy-lift sector a welcome boost in 2025, and it’s a cargo stream that will not dry up anytime soon.

But tariffs on steel, aluminum and copper could present challenges for energy and data center construction projects.

The handling and transportation of space components is opening up new opportunities for project cargo forwarders.

A boost in project cargo demand is expected as delayed mining projects in the country start to come onstream in the coming years.

High-value megaproject activity in the US is propping up heavy-lift cargo volumes, while also generating breakbulk shipments.

Breakbulk and project cargo shippers are tapping FTZ and bonded warehouse storage to “tariff engineer.”

A predicted annual growth rate of 9% for the space economy to 2035 will intensify the demands on cargo handlers.

Lured by shorter voyage times and commensurate cost savings, shipping companies have dipped their propellers into the frigid Arctic waters since the northerly routes became commercially viable due to warmer conditions about 15 years ago.

Renewed interest in oil and gas-related projects, as well as power generation infrastructure for data centers, will boost breakbulk cargo volumes.

Ports that previously had been able to count on more predictable planning and certain cargo types, such as wind project equipment, are finding themselves having to take stock of their capabilities and recalibrate accordingly.

Shippers Linde and Air Liquide are leaning on their project backlogs for future cargoes, bucking talk of an “industrial recession.”