Is trouble heading toward bulk shippers?

Container shipping woes have captured the attention of the world’s financial press and trade associations such as the Washington-based Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI). The difficult circumstances in container shipping may soon be mirrored in the bulk cargo sector, according to sea freight observers.

At a session devoted to the ferrous scrap sector at the June International Recycling Week online event, Nathan Fruchter of New York-based Idoru Trading & Consulting indicated bulk cargo shippers at that time were running into some scheduling hassles, but not nearly at the level being experienced by container shippers.

As the summer has unfolded, however, a few hundred COVID-19 cases in the People’s Republic of China may be all that was needed to start disruption in the bulk shipping sector.

Although ports around the world have introduced COVID-19-related work distancing restrictions and protocols at times in the past 18 months, a “zero case” mentality combined with comprehensive contact tracing and severe quarantining can cause ports in China to either lock down or slow to a crawl.

An August 23 article on the Greece-based Hellenic Shipping News website indicates bulk vessel congestion “has now risen to historic highs as China enforces stricter COVID rules for arriving vessels.”

Greg Miller, author of the article, adds, “And what happens in China will be felt in America. Every bulker stuck at anchor in China is one less ship that’s available to load United States soybeans, corn, wheat and coal — pushing spot freight rates for U.S. bulk exports higher.”

Ferrous scrap represents a much smaller percentage of overall U.S. bulk cargo shipping, but a vessel shortage would likely affect shipper schedules in that sector.

Hellenic Shipping News quotes a cargo analyst as saying more than 160 bulk vessels are in port queues worldwide, a figure that is 15 percent higher than August 2020.

A shipping executive, Martyn Wade of Singapore-based Grindrod Shipping Holdings Ltd., is quoted as saying, “We’ve heard reports that on the Yangtze [River, in China], they’re talking about all river pilots having to do compulsory quarantine.”

Nick Ristic, a cargo analyst with London-based Braemar ACM Shipbroking, comments, “At other ports, we are hearing reports of mandatory quarantine periods, cargo operations not being allowed to proceed until negative PCR [polymerase chain reaction] test results are obtained, and other protocols.”

He says, “I think the COVID factor will remain significant for the remainder of the year.”

For a session on transportation-related issues, attend the upcoming Paper & Plastics Recycling Conference in Chicago this fall.