US breakbulk industry surviving with eye on late 2010 recovery

Monday, 19 October 2009 02:56:20 (GMT+3)   |  
       

The 20th Annual Breakbulk Transportation Conference & Exhibition held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center New Orleans from October 13 through 15, brought together national and international breakbulk and other logistics companies to network and discuss the present and future of the transportation industry.

While business is currently suffering for just about all breakbulk companies, especially those transporting steel, the focus of the majority of conversations during the three-day event was on when we can expect a recovery after this very difficult year. Certain bulk commodity markets should experience some slight improvements over the next 12 months; however, on an overall scale, most of 2010 is expected to be similar to 2009.

On the steel side, the mood was a bit gloomier than that for other breakbulk products, mostly because there had previously been high hopes that there would be more imports being booked right now for mid-to-end Q1 2010 arrivals. However, it is thought that some of the larger construction projects that were held off in 2009 may finally get the green light next spring/summer. Some steel shippers also mentioned that Asian steel import quoting activity has increased recently and that this gave them some reason for hope.

Overall, the consensus regarding US steel imports among attendees is that 2010 will probably be slightly better than 2009 for first three quarters of the year, but that a significant up-tick may take place in Q4 for Q1 2011 shipments. Regarding export steel, there have been some shipments to South America and Asia recently, but overall exports are also expected to remain relatively subdued over the next several months.

There is not much exciting news on the horizon for steel breakbulk and logistics companies; however, more stalled projects are expected to be approved over the next year as the economy improves and credit issues are slowly being worked out. It seemed that the majority of the companies at the conference and exhibition believe while a strong recovery is far off, those who are still standing a year from now will be around for the next upswing.


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