Breakbulk shipping

Container shippers are increasingly switching to breakbulk solutions to move their cargo, pushing MPV/HL bookings into the fall and driving up rates.

Despite climbing MPV/HL rates, shipping boom ‘finite’: Drewry

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Sep 13, 2021, 7:00 AM EDT

Controlling dangerous wood-boring pests in wood packaging material will require more consistent enforcement across the US and helping the private sector learn how to look for these pests themselves.

New approaches needed to stamp out breakbulk pests

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Sep 7, 2021, 8:00 AM EDT

Transport, trade and regulationMaritimeBreakbulk carriersBreakbulk ports

MPV market tightens further amid rush for capacity: Toepfer

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Sep 3, 2021, 12:18 PM EDT

Forward bookings are becoming the norm as some MPV/HL carriers require premiums for laycan dates, and a dearth of newbuildings in the sector implies that the current market will not slow down in the short term.

Booming demand for machine tools and other breakbulk and high and heavy cargo boosted ro/ro carrier Wallenius Wilhelmsen’s volumes during the second quarter.

Ro/ro volumes rising on machine tool demand, container ‘spillover’

Special Correspondent Keith Wallis | Aug 23, 2021, 6:36 PM EDT

Shippers eager to move computer components, semiconductor chips, and auto production parts are eating up super-heavy air capacity even as demand for traditional OOG cargo improves.

Container chaos driving demand for Antonov capacity

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Aug 19, 2021, 3:32 PM EDT

Breakbulk carriersAir Cargo

Seajacks purchase gives Eneti world’s largest wind installation fleet

Keith Wallis, Special Correspondent | Aug 9, 2021, 11:24 AM EDT

Eneti, formerly known as Scorpio Bulkers, is accelerating its transition from bulk carrier to offshore wind specialist with the acquisition of Seajacks International and its fleet of five wind turbine installation vessels (WTIVs).

Spillover container cargo is driving the strongest breakbulk market in more than a decade, MPV/HL carriers say.

MPV/HL rates to maintain upward momentum: analysts

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Aug 6, 2021, 2:27 PM EDT

MOL’s order for LNG-fueled car carriers shows that ro-ro newbuildings are stacking up as the sector pivots toward lower-carbon and next-generation fuels.

MOL orders four LNG-fueled car carriers

Special Correspondent Keith Wallis | Aug 4, 2021, 3:32 PM EDT

Ro/ro cargoBreakbulk carriers

US Wind to build 1.2 GW off Maryland coast

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Aug 4, 2021, 1:04 PM EDT

A Maryland developer has committed to building a 1.2 GW offshore wind project and a multi-million-dollar monopile manufacturing facility.

Project network EPN and digital shipping platform Shipnext are working together to reduce the chronic data overload that comes with project shipping.

AI and algorithms taming project cargo logistics

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Aug 2, 2021, 8:00 AM EDT

Project cargoLogistics technology

Spillover container cargo pushing up breakbulk rates

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jul 21, 2021, 4:33 PM EDT

As desperate shippers search for cargo solutions and sop up breakbulk capacity, the new MPV/HL sentiment index reveals strong short-term confidence but longer-term wariness in the breakbulk sector.

After a COVID-19 pandemic lull, violations of ISPM 15 regulations around dangerous insects are increasing in Houston and elsewhere, triggering costly remedies and intense frustration in the breakbulk and project cargo community.

Breakbulk volume recovery triggers CBP invasive pest violations

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jul 19, 2021, 1:35 PM EDT

Project cargoBreakbulk ports

Breakbulk volume recovery triggers CBP invasive pest violations

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jul 19, 2021, 1:30 PM EDT

Project cargo

Wallenius Lines inks deal for vehicle carrier newbuilds

Special Correspondent Keith Wallis | Jul 14, 2021, 2:31 PM EDT

The new ships will be capable of using liquefied natural gas, liquefied biogas, and synthetic diesel, with an option for battery power, according to Wallenius Marine.

The Port of Salem, New Jersey, has been awarded a $9 million federal infrastructure grant to help meet offshore wind logistics and manufacturing requirements.

DOT grant helps push South Jersey Port wind projects

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jul 13, 2021, 5:14 PM EDT

MPVs are booked through the summer, but improving charter rates are not yet sufficient to support newbuildings, analysts say.

Container chaos pushes ‘decontainerized’ cargo to breakbulk sector

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jul 12, 2021, 3:44 PM EDT

Leading US East and Gulf coast gateways for automobiles and other ro/ro cargoes posted major year-over-year percentage increases in tonnage during the first few months of 2021, wiping out the declines that US ports saw in early 2020.

Consumer spending boosts recovering ro/ro market

Keith Wallis, Special Correspondent | Jul 9, 2021, 9:00 AM EDT

Oslo-based offshore wind specialist Cadeler is investing $651 million in new turbine installation vessels as the global offshore wind industry gains traction.

Cadeler orders two wind turbine installation vessels

Special Correspondent Keith Wallis | Jul 1, 2021, 12:15 PM EDT

Despite higher costs to move automobiles and high and heavy cargoes, and uncertainties related to the COVID‑19 pandemic that continue to challenge the recovery, demand is rebounding quickly.

Global semiconductor shortage threatens ro/ro recovery

Keith Wallis, Special Correspondent | Jun 30, 2021, 10:56 AM EDT

Rising freight rates and prices for raw industrial materials have shippers scrambling to rework budgets and adjust procurement strategies and project schedules.

Breakbulk carriers flexing pricing power in volatile market

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jun 22, 2021, 5:00 PM EDT

Just like the container segment, the MPV sector has been short on capacity in the last several months, but unlike on the container side, no major vessel reinvestment program has begun on the MPV side.

Low MPV orderbook presages looming capacity crunch

Peter Tirschwell | Jun 18, 2021, 2:27 PM EDT

Breakbulk shippingMaritime

Ambitious US offshore wind goals face regulatory, logistics hurdles

Chris Barnett, Special Correspondent | Jun 17, 2021, 5:02 PM EDT

The Biden administration’s embrace of offshore wind energy generation in the United States means development on an opening round of offshore wind projects on the eastern seaboard will soon be getting underway.

The strength of the post-COVID-19 rebound in multipurpose vessel and heavy lift demand and rates has taken the industry somewhat by surprise, with demand driven by continued investment in wind energy, oil and gas recovery, and “spillover” cargoes from the container and bulk segments.

Cargo owners prioritizing capacity over price in hot breakbulk market

Keith Wallis, Special Correspondent | Jun 11, 2021, 11:24 AM EDT

After a long slump, strengthening MPV freight rates could encourage reinvestment in the sector for the first time in a decade.

Rapidly rising MPV/HL rates still well below 2007 levels: Drewry

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jun 10, 2021, 4:14 PM EDT

As the US economy reopens, more states are speeding up the permitting process for oversize/overweight flatbed loads, as cargo diversion complicates routing.

Heavy-haul permitting delays eased by automation

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Jun 8, 2021, 9:56 AM EDT

Heavy-haul transportProject cargoTrucking

Strong demand continues to push MPV rate forecast higher

Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift | Jun 7, 2021, 1:36 PM EDT

Worried forwarders are struggling to find transport solutions for their clients in a congested global shipping market, pushing formerly containerized cargoes out of boxes and into breakbulk modes.

Housing, energy, and manufacturing are generating intense demand for flatbed transportation at a time when a shortage of materials is disrupting supply chains.

Flatbed rates on a steep incline for US shippers

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | Jun 7, 2021, 10:11 AM EDT

Heavy-haul transportTrucking

US port congestion, capacity woes force project cargo rerouting

William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | May 28, 2021, 5:21 PM EDT

As container vessels and freight clog major ports, oversized and overweight project cargo is being rerouted coast to coast, driving up ocean shipping and inland transportation costs.

Project cargoHeavy-haul transport

Clean energy shift to drive new project cargo opportunities

Cathy Morrow Roberson, JOC Analyst | May 28, 2021, 11:31 AM EDT

Investments in hydrogen production and storage and other clean energy projects will keep project cargo carriers busy amid the push to decarbonize.

Project cargo

Green energy boom to feed heightened logistics demand

Eric Johnson, Senior Technology Editor | May 27, 2021, 11:53 AM EDT

Demand for commodities that feed the green energy transition is expected to spike this decade, and that will have an impact on project logistics associated with mining and transporting those materials.

Energy projectsProject cargo

Eneti  investing in wind turbine installation vessels  

Special Correspondent Keith Wallis | May 17, 2021, 3:43 PM EDT

The former bulk carrier Eneti has contracted with a Korean ship builder for up to two wind turbine installation vessels and is in talks with US builders about a Jones Act-compliant WTIV to serve a budding US market.

The ripple effects of COVID-19 and plant-closing costs trigger a quarterly loss for wind turbine manufacturer Siemens Gamesa, but its work backlog provides a bright spot.

Siemens Gamesa reports loss even as wind backlog jumps

Special Correspondent Chris Barnett | May 13, 2021, 4:38 PM EDT

Project cargo shipper Fluor added a refinery project to its work backlog, but lost a chemicals project during a choppy first quarter as COVID-19-driven delays took a toll.

Fluor Q1 earnings in the red as project backlog takes a hit

Special Correspondent Chris Barnett | May 12, 2021, 2:14 PM EDT

Project cargo

Backlogs buoy wind turbine manufacturers despite Q1 losses

Special Correspondent Chris Barnett | May 11, 2021, 5:07 PM EDT

Though posting first-quarter losses, there's no sign of demand relaxing as wind turbine orders expand backlogs for Vestas and GE Renewables.

Breakbulk freight rates are climbing, but uncertainty about new fuels, ship designs, and the long-term strength of the market are holding back orders for new ships.

Hot breakbulk market underlines MPV newbuilding shortfall: Drewry, Toepfer

Special Correspondent Keith Wallis | May 7, 2021, 4:26 PM EDT

Breakbulk carriersProject cargo

MPV/HL charter rates to remain at record highs through June: Toepfer

Special Correspondent Keith Wallis | May 6, 2021, 3:35 PM EDT

As cargo demand surges, multipurpose, container, and dry bulk carriers are all competing for tonnage and pushing up vessel charter rates.

 A US trade court’s ruling that an expansion of tariffs to include finished steel products was invalid allows shippers to claw back import levies, but steel importers say they need a full rollback before shipments can grow.

US steel importers await tariff reversal to drive up demand

Michael Angell, Associate Editor | May 5, 2021, 9:00 AM EDT

Despite lower total revenues, KBR's green-focused energy strategy boosted earnings per share in the first quarter of 2021.

KBR sharpens focus on energy transition capital projects

Special Correspondent Chris Barnett | May 3, 2021, 12:41 PM EDT

The first of a new, project-cargo and EV-friendly generation of green pure car and truck carriers is scheduled to arrive at Hoegh Autoliners by the end of 2023.

Hoegh Autoliners orders green, project-friendly pure car and truck carriers

Special Correspondent Keith Wallis | Apr 27, 2021, 11:27 AM EDT