The Hindu Business Line : GE Shipping to expand dry bulk tonnage

, Attracted by the growing opportunities in the international dry bulk cargo movement, Great Eastern Shipping is planning to consolidate its presence in this segment. As a part of this initiative, the company has signed a contract for buying a 1.64 lakh deadweight tonnes (dwt) modern Capesize dry bulk carrier, which will be joining its fleet in the last quarter of the current fiscal.

With this vessel, the company will have a total of 10 dry bulk carriers, constituting about 12 per cent of its total fleet. In the months to come, it will be further expanding its dry bulk tonnage to cash in on the growing opportunities in the dry bulk trade.

The company's current fleet of 73 vessels comprises 39 ships (30 tankers and nine dry bulk carriers) aggregating 2.77 million dwt and 34 offshore vessels, including harbour tugs and exploratory rigs.

Economic growth forecasts for the current fiscal imply firm demand for steel, iron ore and coal mining expansions, which would translate into additional demand for dry bulk carriers.

Increased activity in the oil and gas sector and petrochemical refining is pushing up demand for steel pipes and sheets. Reports indicate that global iron ore production is expected to grow by nine per cent to 1.43 billion tones in 2006.

Further, India's consumption of metallurgical coal is expected to increase by 12 per cent to touch about 44 million tonnes this year and a significant chunk of this is likely to be met through imports.

Elsewhere, medium and large-scale blast furnaces in China would require hard coking coal with higher coke strength, with Australia being the major source due to its higher coke strength.

In terms of ship availability, reports indicate that scrapping in 2006 would be to the tune of about 2.5 million dwt, as against one million dwt in 2005.

With relatively larger scrapping, ship availability will come down, pushing up the tonne-mile demand.