Global container port operators will increasingly eye the bulk handling sector as a means of diversifying risk and to take advantage of the brimming growth in world commodities demand, according to one leading consultant.
consolidation of liner shipping interests has more readily lent itself to the establishment of global port networks.
However, with many of the customers of global container port operators seeking partners able to provide ‘one-stop-shop’ services for their increasingly integrated supply chains which would usually include an array of cargo types, Chandrasekhar said container port companies were eying opportunities to meet the bulk — as well as container — handling needs of customers.
The trend is also visible elsewhere in supply chains with logistics majors such as DHL and GAC seeing openings for companies able to provide integrated supply chain management platforms across customers’ transport needs irrespective of cargo.
Chandrasekhar said the growth in commodity pricing, sourcing and supply, especially in relation to Asia and Latin America, were significant drivers of diversification in terminal supply provision in the bulk sector.
“I also believe that, with container handling becoming more competitive, largely due to the post-crisis drop in volumes and the resultant excess capacity available at terminals, as well as the more rapid recovery in volumes and prices of commodities, the confluence of these two factors could have prompted some operators to diversify, in order to hedge the downside risk of the former by taking advantage of the upside opportunity represented by the latter.”
Michael King