b'JULY 26 -AUGUST 22, 2021BREAKBULK QUARTERLY 13AAL delivers for 30 shippers and over(RESURGENCEcontinued fromtheir project cargo teams, she said. page 12) The speed at which congestion and 10 projects on monthly liner service downsidetothecurrentbreakbulksupply chain issues in the container and phenomenonbesidestheincreas- dry bulk sectors are resolved, Oatway Yachts, cranes, transformers, dredgers, and giant baskets - AALingrates.Breakbulkcargoesgener- added, will have a huge impact.Kembla carries them all and more, on liner service voyage fromallymoveontheorderofhundredsOf additional concern to the break-Europe to Asia orthousandsoftonspershipment,bulkfleetwillbeitsrateofreplen-withlargershipmentsgettinglowerishment.Oneofthemainreasons OnValentinesDay2021,thethe current climate of increased costsrates. That means that breakbulk mayrecovery is fragile for this sector, said AAL Kembla set sail from Rotterdamand limited capacity. be less of a viable option for smallerOatway, is the level of over-age ton-on a voyage from Europe, through theAALs owned fleet of heavy liftshippers from a financial standpoint.nage in the fleet. Over 50% of the total Persian Gulf and onto Shanghai - asmultipurposevesselshasgrownbyAsPrehmnoted,Smalloperatorsfleet is over 15 years old. Although the one of six 31,000 dwt A-Class heavy117,600 dwt in the past eight weeks.whodidnotsecuretonnageinthefleet contracted in 2020, our concern liftmultipurposevesselsemployedThisbringsthecarriersoperatingrecentweakertimes,havetopayis that increased optimism will lead to on AAL Shippings (AAL) Europe,fleettoatotalof711,200dwtandhighpremiumstosecuretheshipsnew investment decisions, without cor-Middle East / IndiaAsia Monthlycomprises multiple vessel sizes, withthey need to fulfill their obligations.responding cargo commitments. Liner Service. On the journey east- 14 of these featuring a maximum lift- As for the carriers, 2021s growthMorlandalsocautionsagainst wards,sheloadedcloseto37,000ing capacity of 700 t and many of theis largely due to port congestion andover-exuberanceinthebreakbulk cbm / 15,000 mt of project heavy lift,larger mega-size vessels offering upsupplychainissues,saidOatway,sector.Althoughheexpectsno breakbulkandsteelcommoditycar- to 40,000 cbm cargo intake volumes.creatinggreatereffectivedemandimmediate slowdown in the burgeon-goes. These included multiple privateThe fleet serves AALs growing port- even as overall volumes have fallen ining U.S. economy and consumer con-yachts, the longest of which was 23folio of multipurpose cargo services,some areas. That makes the longer- fidence, he believes that the industry, m; a 33 m tall mobile harbour cranewhichincludesmonthlysailingsonterm prospects for growth in the break- sensitiveasitistosuddenmarket weighting370mt;16powertrans- the Asia - Americas, Asia - Europebulk segment more modest, althoughchanges, would do well to listen to formers with a total weight of 1,583and Atlantic trade routes, scheduledstill positive, according to Oatway,recommendations of the U.S. Federal mt; a 41 m long dredger and compo- liner services Asia - Australia, andas container vessel operators reassertReserve to proceed with caution and nents weighing 584 mt; and four giantEurope - Middle East / India - Asiacompetition and reclaim some break- risk assessment just in case the pan-circular baskets with an average cir- and additional tramp solutions aroundbulk cargoes. Container vessel opera- demic takes a turn for the worse and cumference of just under 52 m. Thethe world. tors have put a lot of investment intoderails the U.S. recovery.smallest parcel she carried was 1.8 mt and 2.5 cbm.EikeMuentz,GeneralManager Europe, commented; The cargo car-ried on this particular voyage serviced over 30 shippers and upwards of 10 multipleindustryprojectsalongthe route,includingwindenergy,infra-structure,oilandgasandmining. The volume and wide range of cargo typesfeaturedonthisvoyageillus-tratesthesupremeflexibilityofthe A-Class and the growing dependency uponabreakbulk-styleofshipping from global shippers. These custom-ers would normally put their smaller breakbulkandsteelcommoditycar-goes into containers, but cannot due to (PROPOSEScontinued from page 11)construction. GSL has also announced an agree-ment with the Dutch naval architect and engineering firm DEKC Maritime to provide the design and engineering drawings for the feeder ship based on an existing design. DEKCsextensiveknowledge andcapabilitiesprovideGSLwith anidealpartnertodesignourfleet of modern Jones Act feeder vessels, Percy said. DEKCMaritimeoriginatedin 1972 as the detail engineering depart-mentofCentraalstaal.Centraalstaal performed precision steel plate cutting that delivered steel sections in sequence tosupportshipconstructionatsmall shipyards in the Netherlands. Centraal-staal provided shipyards with complete buildingkits.Basedinthenorthern cityofGroningen,theengineering firmbecameVuykEngineeringand along with Centraalstaal became part of the Central Industry Group (CIG). CIG went bankrupt in 2016.Centraal-staal filed for bankruptcy on June 7th. The loss of Dutch shipbuilding work to Eastern Europe and Asia has been a long-term problem. DEKC survives as an engineering firm and ship designer.PynesaidthatCentralstaalwill emergefrombankruptcyandhopes totransfertheCentraalstaalmodel toMichigantosupportMoranIron Worksinfuturemass-productionof feedershipsutilizingDutchdesigns provided by DEKC.'