REVIEW2016 more news at www.heavyliftpfi.com


In 2016, Chipolbrok took delivery of all four ships in its most recent newbuild programme. Pictured here is the Nowowiejski, which was delivered in April.


A year of consolidation O


HLPFI editor Ian Matheson looks back on some moments to remember from 2016.


ne year ago, HLPFI wrote that you would have to go a long way


to find an optimist in the heavy lift and project cargo transport business. Any optimism at the start of


the year diminished during the course of 2016 and we saw consolidation – through alliances, mergers or acquisition – become the word on everyone’s lips. The year also saw some big


names fall by the wayside, either through bankruptcy, merger or takeover, including shipowners and operators, forwarders, banks (which sold off their ship finance portfolios) and shipyards.


Political shocks In 2016, the UK surprised Europe by voting to leave the EU and the USA shocked the world as Donald Trump rose to prominence to become the country’s new president. Alongside these events,


which rattled the establishment, global economies suffered in the wake of market uncertainty, caused by low commodity prices, a slowdown in China,


20


The world’s largest freighter aircraft – the AN-225 – will be put back into production.


and unstable political situations in the Middle East and elsewhere. The heavy lift shipping,


project forwarding and specialised transport sector was affected by these same global factors, as well rock-bottom freight rates, overcapacity and increasingly stringent environmental regulations. Such difficulties led to the


bankruptcy of Hanjin Shipping –


The year saw the bankruptcy of Dutch multipurpose shipping company Flinter and a similar fate befell Abis Shipping.


January/February 2017


the biggest shock to the container shipping sector for a number of years – and widespread rumours that a major player in the heavy lift shipping business would be sold.


Bankruptcies The year saw the bankruptcy of Dutch multipurpose shipping company Flinter and a similar fate befell Abis Shipping, with a number of its vessels put up for auction at the end of 2016. Boskalis – parent company


of Dockwise – also confirmed that it planned to take 24 vessels out of service over the next two years and cut its workforce. In Australia, heavy haulage


provider McAleese Group went into administration and in the UK, the country’s Serious Fraud


Office (SFO) charged F.H. Bertling Ltd, together with seven former and current employees, with one count of making corrupt payments contrary to section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906. The European Commission


then found truck manufacturers –MAN, Volvo/Renault, Daimler, Iveco and DAF – guilty of breaking EU antitrust rules, by colluding for 14 years on truck pricing, and passing on the costs of compliance with stricter emission rules to customers. The trial of Niels Stolberg,


the ex-head of the now defunct Beluga Group, rumbled on with no conclusion in sight by the end of 2016. Consolidation was also the


name of the game across the whole project cargo supply chain. Not only did we learn about tie-ups within original equipment manufacturers (OEM) and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractors, but forwarders and carriers also announced plans to pool resources. In June, Rickmers-Linie


announced that it was taking over Nordana Project & Chartering, while September saw Thorco Shipping and


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