Estado del sector - Current market situation 27 ENERGY CHALLENGE AHEAD FOR THE BREAKBULK FLEET On the port side, Johan-Paul Verschuure, Director of the Port and Logistics Team at the consultancy firm Rebel, believes the challenge is significant enough to be addressed in a flexible and sustainableway. ”This entails risks for all parties in the market and in particular for the breakbulk parties, as they operate on a thin market with a shorter horizon when it comes to investments. How the sector deals with this increased volatility will certainly remain a crucial challenge for the coming years.” Moreover, the energy transition will require much more port space to handle and store not only alternative fuels, but also to handle larger breakbulk and project cargo flows. For breakbulk terminals, it will probably mean that they will have to squeeze their capacity into the same area. Future bunkering solutions will also be an issue for some ports. ”Especially for multipurpose vessels it is always a big question what the ship of the future is going to look like and what will be put on her,” says Susan Oatway, an analyst at the Journal of Commerce. When it comes to sustainability and low-carbon marine fuels, Verschuure still sees differences between breakbulk and other sectors. “Container liners are mostly driven by the IKEAs and Wallmarts of this world where shippers dealing with end consumers play a more important role”. These end consumers seem to be the most engaged group of all the actors in the supply chain. THE CONTAINER SETS THE PACE As a consequence, carriers are much more likely to take action in the energy transition and follow the demands of end consumers. In contrast, the breakbulk and project cargo sector is more dependent on commercial and industrial interests in its decisions, as its link to the end consumer is much weaker. In addition, margins and balance sheets are lower in the breakbulk sector, making investment in alternative fuels even more challenging. “The sector will have difficulties to lead the way. However, anticipating this financial support to overcome these challenges and reducing uncertainties to the pathway of alternative fuels can assist in transitioning the breakbulk sector in a greener direction,” said Verschuure. Oatway corroborates this, noting that multipurpose shipowners are adopting a wait-and-see approach to see what decisions container lines make about new energy sources and the energy transition. “Some have gone for dual fuel for their newbuildings – but without the infrastructure it is difficult to see a clear pathway,” said the journalist. “And the container carriers are the ones with the political and financial power to influence that. Moreover, most of the breakbulk fleet is on a tramp basis, so they cannot easily switch to cleaner fuels. Certainly not if supply uncertainty remains weak. Therefore, again, what happens at the ports remains decisive”, Oatway pointed out. The breakbulk and project cargo sector is more dependent on commercial and industrial interests in its decisions
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