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American Journal of Transportation
American Journal of Transportation  
ajot.com
Our 32,000 dwt Super B-Class vessels are already breaking
cargo intake records - handling the size and scope of project
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award-winning commitment to being the world's most trusted
project heavy lift carrier. With ongoing fleet, service and
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customer demands.
THE PERFECT FIT
Ports are welcoming various large components, 
but future prospects still remain uncertain
By Julie Gedeon, AJOT
(PROSPECTS – continued on page 19)
The nature of project cargo shipments is chang-
ing with a notable shift from wind installations to 
new energy routes, data centers and sizable infra-
structure investments.
At the Port of Vancouver, Canada’s largest 
port, the preliminary data for the first half of 2026 
shows that foreign breakbulk volumes – which 
include project cargo and metals – 
remained steady at slightly more 
than 860,000 metric tons. This 
included about 10,000 metric tons 
of various machinery. 
The Port of Prince Rupert (PRPA) 
is likewise playing an increasingly 
important role in supporting major 
industrial and infrastructure projects 
in Western Canada with project cargo 
representing significant opportunity. 
The new Material Offload Facility 
(MOF) completed in 2025 was spe-
cifically built to facilitate transporta-
tion of prefabricated components that 
are difficult to handle with conven-
tional facilities.  
“It has already played an import-
ant role in supporting more than $3 
billion in expansion projects under-
way at the Port of Prince Rupert, 
including facilitating the transport 
of critical project components for the AltaGas and 
Vopak joint venture Ridley Island Energy Export 
Facility,” says Kurt Slocombe, PRPA’s president and 
CEO. “The $1.5 billion export terminal, which will 
support large-scale LPG and bulk liquids exports, is 
expected to come online in early 2027.”
Great Lakes and Project Freight
On the Great Lakes, the Port of Hamilton is 
seeing a moderate increase in project cargo so far 
this year, tied to energy, manufacturing, and civil 
infrastructure projects. 
“Recent shipments have included pressure vessels 
for energy generation, transformer and generator-sets 
for warehousing developments, and components sup-
porting major public transit construction,” relates 
decide when a new ship gets ordered.
Geopolitics, Cycles and the Order Book
The panel’s discussion of risk turned, inevita-
bly, to geopolitics. Bunk argued that historically, 
turmoil among major powers has rarely damaged 
shipping outright and has often driven rates higher, 
at least temporarily — though he cautioned that 
the rules-based order underpinning global trade 
is “under attack” in ways that make medium-term 
forecasting difficult. 
He drew a pointed parallel with 2008, when 
Capesize bulk rates collapsed from around $200,000 
a day to $5,000 in a matter of weeks while MPP rates 
held up through 2009 and 2010. A reopening of the 
Red Sea and Suez Canal would absorb some of the 
fleet’s spare capacity, he said, potentially rebalanc-
ing supply and demand — but he does not expect 
oversupply to become a problem over the next three 
to five years.
Capt. Yang was unmoved by the prospect of con-
tainer-ship overcapacity spilling into MPP trades if 
Suez reopens fully. “I am not afraid,” he said, point-
ing to roughly decade-long shipping cycles as simply 
“the real world.” Baosheng’s charter rates, he noted, 
haven’t run up as dramatically as container rates, 
leaving it less exposed to a correction; the compa-
ny’s job, as he put it, is to keep supporting charterers 
through whatever new routing challenges arise. 
Kuźmicki made a similar point about container 
lines eating into oversized and project cargo: it 
isn’t new, and container ships still can’t reach the 
niche ports or handle the complex projects special-
ized MPP tonnage can. “Shipping reflects the world 
economy in practice,” he said. “By declaration you 
cannot change this.”
In shipping, geopolitical risk sometimes carries 
a personal dimension. Though headquartered in Bel-
gium, VARAMAR retains Ukrainian roots, including 
Ambercor Shipping Canada Inc. was present at the Port of Hamilton to supervise 
the discharge and transport of a massive crated gearbox – picked up from the Port 
of Hamilton and delivered cross-border to Delta, BC.
(CASE – continued from page 4)
(CASE – continued on page 8)

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