Shipping logistics in the project sector has become tough, but it’s still manageable, says Colin MacIsaac, CEO of forwarder Bertling Logistics Group. The company sees growing new business enquiry for projects after a lull earlier this year.[ds_preview]
The ocean freight market has become a nightmare for many. How do you cope with the space shortages?
MacIsaac: One of the biggest challenges is the MPP sector losing tonnage to container trades. There has been a drift. We were recently bidding on a wind farm project with a specific class of ships, and then 2 weeks into the negotiations with our customer, the shipowner decides to move the ships to a container service. Such problems come up these days. Still, most traditional breakbulk and project carriers want to stay operating breakbulk. Freight rates are incredibly high and there are some delays, however there is not any issue of total service failure. We are not seeing that at all.
Global economic activity has been more stable lately, does that apply to project freight demand, too?
MacIsaac: Yes and no. It’s a mixed bag. Across all segments, project activities that had been suspended have come back in an erratic manner. There has been a general hesitancy and recalculation from some of our customers [in oil & gas] who are taking a fresh look at some investments under the changed circumstances. What used to be planned for a 15-year lifecycle might now just be 7 or 10 years [due to the energy transition]. As a result, some projects are scaled back, budgets reviewed or project requirements changing.
What’s the shape of new business today? What kind of tenders are you dealing with?
MacIsaac: It’s an exciting mix with quite a bit of activity for LNG production facilities, refinery facilities and the petrochemical sector in general, the latter especially in Western Europe. We are also looking at a suite of projects in the Baltic Sea area, particularly in Russia, also in Qatar (North Field expansion) and in Saudi-Arabia with the planned Neom mega city development. (mph)
