Midyear Breakbulk and Heavy-Lift Outlook
What will the second half of 2019 bring for the project and breakbulk logistics sector? The JOC will examine the outlook around two relevant topics: the steel market and the trade landscape in the face of continuing economic and trade agreement uncertainty, and how the market is gearing up for the onset of IMO 2020, now only months away. IMO 2020, the global mandate for ocean shipping to switch from fuel with 3.5 percent sulfur content to 0.5 percent sulfur, comes into force on Jan. 1. Carriers already are cleaning their tanks and testing new fuel blends. The majority of multipurpose/heavy-lift operators has decided that scrubbers don’t make sense for them.
This webcast will discuss what shippers, carriers, and others in the project supply chain can expect in terms of fuel availability, prices, and compliance enforcement on the IMO 2020 side, as well as from steel prices and trade as business uncertainty lingers. Along the way, it will address the following questions:
- How are steel prices and US production adapting in the face of near-constant trade turmoil and slowing global trade?
- While global growth appears to be stabilizing, steel demand continues to look soft, with trade concerns keeping markets on edge.
- What is the current situation and how are supply chains evolving?
- Will reliable low-sulfur blends be available quickly, or will carriers have to count on more-expensive marine gasoil to get them through the first few months of 2020?
- What will fuel prices look like, near and medium term?
Moderator:
Janet Nodar, Senior Editor, Breakbulk and Heavy Lift, JOC
Speakers:
Amanda Eglinton, Associate Director, Pricing and Purchasing, IHS Markit
Kurt Barrow, Vice President, Oil Markets, Midstream and Downstream, IHS Markit