Shipowners say 'amazing' dry bulk market will continue

Martyn Wade, chief executive of Singapore-based shipowner Grindrod Shipping, in Capital The Link webinar said the bulk carrier market would benefit from a post-epidemic recovery, port congestion, spillover from container ships to bulk carriers, and the trade dispute between Australia and China. He said: "The market has waited ten years to have such good returns. 90% of our company's fleet is traded in the spot market."

coincidentally, Polys, CEO of New York-listed Greek bulk carrier owner Safe Bulkers Hajioannou said that coal will be the main driving force of the bulk market in the next six months, especially in India and China. This is the first time he has seen a shortage of coal in the northern hemisphere before the onset of winter. "" The biggest advantage of the dry bulk market now comes from the shortage of containers." He added.

Stamatis of CEO of Greek Shipping Company Seanergy Tsantanis agreed, highlighting the increase in European coal imports from the United States, "half of the cargo is now coal, compared to the previous figure of only 20%."

however, he said that port congestion has not played a large positive role in the market in the capesize segment that his company operates. He said that the dry bulk market, which is currently at the beginning of this cycle, will perform strongly in the next three years or so. Given the patience shown by shareholders, their company is formulating a dividend policy, which will be announced in the next few weeks.

The explosion of the container market has also given a positive boost to bulk cargo, although not all shipowners are in favor of shipping containers on bulk carriers. Gary, CEO of American bulk carrier owner Eagle Bulk Vogel said that his company had considered the conversion, but considering that "it would require a large investment", it also asked experts in the field of ship design and decided not to do so after multiple factors. Their ship experts said that it is much more difficult to implement bulk conversion on capesize bulk carriers than portable ships. "No one wants to lose money because of this kind of thing."