Break bulk

The largest breakbulk port in Europe saw overall cargo decline of 19.1 percent to 116.8 million metric tons from just over 144 million metric tons during the first nine months of 2008. This compares with an 11.9 percent drop in Rotterdam to 283 million metric tons.

“Volumes seem to have stabilized in the past few months,” said port chief executive Eddy Bruyninckx.

“In the third quarter the amount of shipping freight has remained the same and we suspect that this trend will continue for the remainder of the year,” he said. “At the moment there are not enough signs for an economic revival in the last quarter of 2009.”

Break bulk and conventional volume fell by almost 38 percent to 7.9 million metric tons as steel shipments were down 44.5 percent and wood pulp and paper traffic slumped by over 52 percent.

Roll-on, roll-off traffic was 30 percent lower at 2.4 million metric tons; auto exports and imports fell 24.5 percent to 546,479 units.

Bulk cargo fell 16.2 percent to 42 million metric tons led by a 38.7 percent slump in dry bulk shipments to 12.8 million metric tons. Iron ore traffic shrunk by 64 percent due mainly to the closure of an ArcelorMittal blast furnace in nearby Liege. Coal traffic contracted by 35 percent and fertilizer fell 38 percent. Liquid bulk was stable at 29.2 million metric tons.

Container traffic in Antwerp fell 18.4 percent in the first nine months of the year from the same period in 2008, a significantly faster rate of decline than at its close rival Rotterdam.

The Belgian port handled 5.4 million 20-foot equivalent units from January through September, maintaining its ranking as Europe’s third largest box hub, but falling further behind Rotterdam, where container traffic fell by 13 percent in the same period to 7.2 million TEUs.

Despite the steep declines in most cargo sectors, the port is getting ready for economic revival, Bruyninckx said.

Regular calls by the largest containerships of 14,000 TEUs have been approved by the authority that supervises navigation on the river Scheldt which connects Antwerp to the open sea.

Calls by the largest container vessels will also be easier following the decision of the Dutch government to dredge and deepen the section of the Scheldt river that passes through theNetherlands “so that Antwerp will be ready when the world economy picks up once more.” This decision follows several months of intense controversy over an earlier Dutch decision not to dredge.

Source: Breakbulk Journal

Break Bulk is a shipping term for any loose material that must be loaded individually, and not in Intermodal containers nor in bulk as with oil or grain. Used in this connection, “breakbulk” is often one word.

Break Bulk Cargo or General Cargo

In shipping, break bulk cargo or general cargo is a term that covers a great variety of goods that must be loaded individually, and not in intermodal containers nor in bulkas with oil or grain.

Ships that carry this sort of cargo are often called general cargo ships. The term break bulk derives from the phrase breaking bulk — the extraction of a portion of the cargo of a ship or the beginning of the unloading process from the ship’s holds. These goods may be in shipping containers (bags, boxes, crates, drums,barrels). Unit loads of items secured to a pallet or skid are also used.

A break-in-bulk point is a place where goods are transferred from one mode of transport to another, for example the docks where goods transfer from ship to truck.

Break bulk was the most common form of cargo for most of the history of shipping. Since the late 1960s the volume of break bulk cargo has declined dramatically worldwide as containerization has grown. Moving cargo on and off ship in containers is much more efficient, allowing ships to spend less time in port. Break bulk cargo also suffered from greater theft and damage.