Greenwich Maritime Institute – Page 2 – Greenwich Maritime Centre

World maritime trade’s powerful upswing in the new millennium (mainly thanks to China)

by Richard Scott,

Visiting Lecturer, Greenwich Maritime Institute and MD, Bulk Shipping Analysis

It could be called ‘the China decade’. World seaborne trade maintained a four percent average annual rate of growth during the past ten years, slightly better than the previous ten-year average. This achievement was especially notable in the light of the global economy’s evolution, featuring a wrenching severe recession. But trade growth at that rate would have been impossible without China’s super-size contribution.

During the past decade, from 2003 to 2013, in numerous highly visible ways, global maritime activities which already had been penetrated were then dominated by China’s presence. This pattern is still ongoing, and signs suggest that it will continue for many years ahead. One of the most important aspects of the trend is the phenomenal expansion of China’s seaborne trade, especially imports.

Other countries contributed rising import demand to world trade as well, but none as spectacularly as China. Until 2008, the global economy as a whole was advancing at a robust pace, providing a broadly favourable backdrop for seaborne imports into most areas. After the 2009 recession, economic activity picked up again, although beyond the initial rebound many countries struggled to make further progress against prevailing headwinds. These were difficult circumstances for trade to resume brisk and sustained expansion, yet that is what happened: world seaborne trade as a whole averaged over four percent growth in 2011 to 2013, returning to its ‘normal’ trajectory.

Goliath task for the shipping industry

Commercial shipping’s existence is mainly related to transporting cargoes. Rapid expansion of trade in goods explains why the world fleet of ships saw such strong growth over the past ten years. The huge trade enlargement recorded was remarkable, since this period included the global ‘Great Recession’ in late 2008, continuing through 2009, following the world financial crisis. That slump was widely seen as the most damaging setback for the world economy since the Great Depression in the 1930s. Global economic activity contracted, world seaborne trade was badly weakened and, unusually for an individual year, 2009 saw an actual decline in annual trade volume.

A few statistics emphasise how the pattern of trade evolved in the past decade. In 2003, world seaborne trade – including dry bulk commodities, oil, liquefied gas, manufactured goods (mainly container shipments) and all other cargoes – totalled 6,676 million tonnes. Ten years later, in 2013, the overall total reached an estimated 9,914mt, based on Clarksons Research calculations, cumulatively a 48.5 percent rise. Looking at individual years, a break in the trend is immediately evident. In 2009 there was a four percent reduction from the previous twelve months, followed by a swift ten percent bounceback in 2010. The general pattern was very positive including, significantly, the latest few years of the period up to 2013.

That is the broad picture, but the development pattern among the individual cargo sectors differed markedly. What is abundantly clear is that dry bulk trade made the biggest contribution to the overall advance. Global dry bulk commodity movements, which comprised 2,453mt (37 percent of the total) in 2003, expanded by seventy-six percent to an estimated 4,309mt in 2013, raising their share of the total to 43 percent. Container shipments also grew rapidly, rising by ninety percent, reaching 1,524mt. The second largest sector, oil (crude oil plus processed oil products) was a laggard, growing by a relatively modest twenty-one percent to 2,834mt over the ten years’ period.

A large part of this expansion, particularly in the dry bulk sector, was attributable to China’s multiplying appetite for imports. An especially valuable contribution to the global seaborne trade trend was seen in 2009. As already mentioned, trade declined in that year, but the downturn might have been much worse than actually occurred. A huge jump in China’s dry bulk commodity purchases, completely opposite to the pattern elsewhere, prevented a much greater overall decline.

Sea trade in the ten years ending 2013 as a whole was strengthened by many other countries needing increasing imports. A particularly substantial volume of imported cargo movements was added in Asia, alongside China’s additional volumes. Numerous countries in this region, including India, South Korea, Taiwan and smaller buyers, greatly raised purchases of dry bulks, oil, gas and manufactures. Further cargo import quantities were contributed by countries elsewhere around the world.

Figures for seaborne trade compiled by UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) emphasise how the Asian region led global cargo movements growth. Roughly four-fifths of the entire growth in trade recorded during the period from 2003 to 2012 (currently the latest year for which these statistics are available) was attributable to extra imports into Asia. Another feature, related to the remaining approximately one-fifth of trade growth, is evidence of a reduction in Europe’s imports, a decreasing tendency in North America and a flattish trend in Japan. By contrast both the Middle East area, and a group of all other countries together, showed considerable imports increases.

The real giant awakes

China’s share of global seaborne trade has risen enormously, resulting from its imports growth comprising a very large proportion of world imports growth. As well as providing more cargoes for a greatly increasing China-owned fleet of ships, this upsurge benefited many independent shipowners in numerous countries and, through part of the period, proved highly profitable. Since 2008, however, variable overcapacity in world shipping markets has suppressed earnings for shipping investors.

In the early 2000s, China’s imports of all cargoes – dry bulks, oil, gas and manufactured goods (mostly container shipments) – comprised 5-6 percent of the world seaborne trade total. Global import demand then was still dominated by European countries, Japan and other Asian countries. Starting in 2003, rapid and sustained expansion in China began. Within ten years, a relatively short historical period, a dramatic transformation had occurred. This resulted in China’s share of world seaborne trade expanding almost fourfold from the early millennium, reaching an estimated 20.4 percent in 2013.

The giant’s emergence as an economic powerhouse affecting the world had occurred earlier. In a memorable comment attributed to him, the famous nineteenth century French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte foreshadowed the eventual impact when he suggested that China’s awakening would shake the world. But such a cataclysmic event was a long time coming. It started happening in 1979 when China’s paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, began opening up the economy to world trade, bringing the country’s extended ‘slumber’ to a close.

By the 1990s successive reforms had enabled the Chinese economy to achieve many years of very rapid expansion. Because this development was partly based on export sales, particularly manufactured goods, China became a major and then dominant supplier of these products to the world market. There were huge consequences for the maritime scene: seaborne trade patterns in the container shipping sector changed greatly. The world’s new ‘workshop’ became solidly established. But an even larger impact on global maritime trade was still some way ahead, in the new millennium.

During the early 2000s China began focusing on additional external raw materials and fuels supplies amid rapidly expanding industrial output. More agricultural products were also needed. Although domestic resources of many commodities were widely available, these were insufficient in volume and sometimes in quality as well. Industries including steelmaking, power generation, aluminium smelting, and animal feed manufacturing started placing much heavier emphasis on seeking supplies from foreign sources. The strong advance in quantities imported was the result.

Growing annual seaborne imports into China also formed rising percentages of the upwards overall global trade volumes trend. Statistics illustrate how significant this pattern has been for the global shipping industry, which now depends upon China for a substantial proportion of its bulk carrier, tanker and other ship employment. In 2003 China’s seaborne imports totalled just under 500 million tonnes, within a global total of 6,680mt. By 2013 the China volume had risen to 2,026mt within a global 9,914mt total. These Clarksons Research figures emphasise China’s significance for shipping companies, indicating that, during the 2003-2013 period, annual world seaborne trade rose by 49 percent, while within this volume China’s element increased by 305 percent.

The figures quoted here underline how world seaborne trade has risen greatly, and how a large part of that expansion reflected China’s much more rapidly growing imports. From the angle of additional ship employment created, this point is reinforced by looking at the percentages showing what proportion of growth in world seaborne trade volume during the ten years’ period was comprised of China’s expanding imports. It then becomes even more abundantly clear why global shipping industry players are so intently focused on how Chinese industry and agriculture is progressing, the implications for imports, and the evolving relationship between ‘home’ domestic commodity output and import demand.

As already outlined, global seaborne trade grew substantially from 2003 to 2013. Arguably the most spectacular positive feature during the period was that almost one half (47 percent) of the expansion was contributed by additional imports into China. For dry bulk commodities, the contribution was even larger, and therefore even more striking. China’s extra imports of these commodities (raw materials, fuels, other bulk industrial products, soyabeans and other bulk agricultural products), formed fully two-thirds or 66 percent of overall world seaborne trade growth within the sector. Consequently, shipping industry participants are still transfixed by the China theme.

In a range of key individual trades – iron ore, steam coal (used mainly in power stations), soyabeans, bauxite/alumina, nickel ore, crude oil – China has become either by far the biggest importer or one of the biggest. Expanding Chinese import volumes have been, or in some cases continue to be, the main component of global growth in large-scale trades. Shipowners, charterers, brokers and analysts as well as many others are therefore always looking for any clues about key influences: how demand for the products made by relevant industries are developing, what impact there will be on output levels, and what other factors will determine how much raw materials and other inputs will change as a result.

Among individual commodities, iron ore imports into China experienced, over the past ten years, one of the most dazzling performances ever seen in the long history of global maritime trade. China’s iron ore imports have become gigantic, employing a vast armada of bulk carriers, after rising well over five-fold, from 148mt in 2003 to 820mt in 2013. As a result, these now have a dominant role in world seaborne iron ore movements (one of the largest commodity trades), comprising about two-thirds of the total. Moreover, the 2014 China volume could exceed 900mt. Another example of a large volume trade is coal imports, which rose steeply by over seven-fold in the past five years, from 44mt in 2008 to 327mt in 2013. Crude oil and products imports into China by sea in the past ten years also increased robustly, more than doubling from 114mt, to 293mt last year.

A galloping horse

What seems clear is that China will remain a prominent part of global seaborne trade, and probably a key contributor to its growth, over many years into the future. That is not just a wildly optimistic appraisal. Certainly the country’s economic activity is slowing, and the trend may persist, consistent with a maturing economy. This feature reflects the switch of emphasis, from a demand viewpoint, towards consumer spending and away from capital investment (especially infrastructure projects) and exports. Looking at the economy’s supply side, a switch from manufacturing towards services is foreseen. But, while these forces will restrain production of goods with high raw materials content, further growth in imported natural resources and energy is likely.

The Year of the Horse, 2014, in China seems set to prove another period of increases in many commodity imports, and that trend may continue in the medium term at least. There are positive indicators, although the earlier gallop may be moderating towards a fast trot. Nevertheless, there are also reasons for caution or uncertainty about the outlook. Several questions arise. How rapidly will the economy grow in the years ahead? What, precisely, will be the relationship between economic activity and seaborne trade? Is growth in import demand for commodities likely to continue outpacing production increases in dependent industries? How will foreign purchases of agricultural commodities evolve? Answers involve a complex range of factors which are far from easy to assess reliably.

Also relevant to the general picture of world maritime trade’s progress is the contribution of other prominent players around the globe. A detailed examination of export suppliers is beyond the scope of this article. As import generating areas, other Asian countries, and Japan and Europe as well as the USA are particularly significant. Also, some emerging economies in the Middle East, South America and Africa are becoming more prominent influences. Currently the advanced economies group (mainly Europe, USA and Japan) is still having difficulty shaking off the long term debilitating effects of the 2009 recession and its problematical aftermath, with adverse implications for seaborne trade. Until there is a stronger import purchases trend in these countries, world seaborne trade’s great reliance and concentrated focus on China will persist.

The Nelson Collection of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation

Gina Balta

PhD Candidate, Maritime Studies

It was on May when I received an invitation to attend the opening of a very unique and interesting exhibition. The Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation was inviting me to attend the opening of Lord Admiral Nelson’s naval exhibition taking place at the Hellenic Maritime Museum in Piraeus, Greece for a limited time only. The private collection is permanently exhibited in a neoclassical mansion in Piraeus, at the premises of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation and consists of books, paintings, personal items, dispatches, autograph letters and more. The collection belongs to the Greek shipowner Panos Laskaridis, President of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation. It took Laskaridis thirty years to collect these items through auctions and other collectors and it was a result of admiration and appreciation of the British maritime history. Parts of the collection have been exhibited during the 200^th Anniversary celebration of the Battle of Trafalgar in 2005 in London, Athens, Cephalonia and the Falkland Islands.

During my visit at the museum I met Mr Steven Coobs, responsible for the collection, who gave me an interview and also guided me through the exhibits. Mr Coobs explained that Nelson’s private collection has been one of the biggest collections outside the United Kingdom and its importance to the public is remarkable. The collection contains a selection of nearly 800 books, all dedicated to Horatio Nelson and the Napoleonic Wars. Placed in glass display cases someone can see documents and newspapers of the same period talking about the Siege of Malta (1798-1800), the Battle of Cape St. Vincent (1797), the Battle of the Nile (1798), the Battle of Copenhagen (1807) and the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). But the most interesting among the documents are probably the autograph diary of Admiral Lord Collingwood, the autograph diary of Thomas Fletcher, who was a gunner aboard HMS Defense at the Battle of Trafalgar, and also a few pages from the diaries of HMS Naid and HMS Swiftsure.

The Foundation’s outstanding collection encompasses a wide range of painting, flags and banners from the period of the Napoleonic Wars as well. One of the exhibits is the framed fragment of Lord Nelson’s flagship HMS Victory. Moreover, among the exhibits someone can see some of his personal items, like his special cutlery set. It was constructed after Nelson lost his right arm at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in 1797 and its usage is aimed for one handed people. Although Nelson was not naturally left-handed, he managed to write again and finally build up to the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. It is easy to detect the dramatic change in his handwriting especially in his first letters. The collection contains two letters written by the naval commander which refer to Admiral Cornwallis and Admiral Collingwood, and his correspondence with Lady Hamilton which reveals different aspects of his character.

While walking through the exhibition room Mr Coobs asked me if I am ready to see something unique. Suddenly, I had in front me about thirty ship models made almost entirely from bones. The bone ship models were constructed during the period of the Napoleonic Wars by French war-prisoners and became very famous among the British artistic crowd. Mr Coobs explained that during the Napoleonic Wars over 10,000 prisoners were held captive in Britain and some of them had remained locked away for over a decade. Encouraged by the captors the prisoners were allowed to produce small objects d’art and sell them afterwards at the camps’ periodic civilian open markets. Very popular were the models representing British naval ships. All the models were constructed mostly from cattle bones kept by the prisoners from the food rations issued by the British, which they boiled until they became soft and ductile. Each ship model would normally take about a year to complete and that makes them unique. The prisoners used the large bones to carve the body of the ship and by using pieces of wood they used to create the finely detailed cannons and masts. For the sail rigging they used their own hair or threads taken from their bed clothes.

Similarly interesting is the Scrimshaw Collection which also belongs to the Laskaridis Foundation and is dated back to the 19^th century. These handmade crafts were created by whalers who would patiently carve the teeth and bones of whales and other marine mammals. These crafts were normally created at sea and would later be donated to friends and family. The decorated or engraved bones and ivories depict various aspects of life in land and at sea, a seaman’s adventures, various ships and whales of course.

One of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the World: The Panama Canal

Dr Chris Ware

One hundred years ago today ( 15 August) the Panama Canal was opened to traffic, no longer would vessel have to round Cape Horn against prevailing Westerly wind instead they would transit the 49 miles from Atlantic( Caribbean) to Pacific. The idea not new would only be realised at the end of the 19^th Century when first the French sort drive a series of cuts and locks across the Isthmus, this first effort would end in Bankruptcy and a large death total, upward of 22,000 died from fever.

It would be the United States which would, in 1904, take over the project and take a lease on a strip land across Panama, and complete the work by 1914.This allowed the American’s to move the Warships from the Atlantic to the Pacific and allowed the increasing trade of the West Coast of the US to follow East and vice versa. Now the Canal is being widened and there is talk that Nicaragua is looking to build a canal. % 25 percent of the world tonnage is built to Panamax standard, ships which can transit the Canal, however less than 2% per year actually do so, the remodel Canal will allow large ships with better hull forms to be built and run. If the Pharos of Alexandria and the Colossus of Rhodes were wonders of the ancient world, the Panama Canal stand as one of the engineering wonders of the 20^th century and beyond.

Bulking up in Africa: China inflates seaborne minerals export trade

by Richard Scott

Visiting Lecturer, Greenwich Maritime Institute and MD, Bulk Shipping Analysis

Africa’s profile as an exporter of dry bulk commodities is rising. Responding to growing import demand from China, India and other buyers in the past decade, many new African suppliers have entered the market. Seaborne dry bulk exports by countries in Africa now exceed 200 million tonnes annually, about 5% of the global total, and further growth is predicted over the years ahead. Expansion has been especially notable in the iron ore and coal trades, the focus of this article.

Seaborne exports growth from Africa benefits the global shipping industry in two ways. Larger volumes moving create additional employment for bulk carriers, many of which are operated by independent shipowners. Also, because a large element of new commodity supply is coming out of West Africa, destined for Asian receivers, long-haul voyages amplify the extra cargo-carrying (deadweight) capacity needed.

There is a remarkable historical precedent. Around fifty years ago, back in the 1960s, Africa rapidly became much more significant as an exporter when iron ore deposits were opened up in several West African countries, mainly to supply the European market. This trade subsequently diminished and was overtaken by the emergence and eventual dominance of South Africa as the continent’s chief iron ore and coal exporter. The current phase starting in the past few years represents, partly, a reprise of earlier events in West Africa, accompanied by some new developments elsewhere.

A steely embrace

For most of the past ten years coal, from South Africa, was the largest dry bulk cargo export movement originating in the African continent. But in 2013 Africa’s iron ore exports, which had been rising, especially in the five years since 2008, became the largest element. Estimates point to last year’s iron ore total reaching about 91mt. South Africa’s contribution comprised more than three-fifths. The remainder consisted mainly of shipments from Mauritania plus the rapidly expanding resumed exports from Sierra Leone and Liberia.

A large proportion of iron ore exports growth reflected China’s expanding requirements amid rapid steel production increases. During the five years period from 2009 to 2013, Africa’s annual ore exports total increased by 49mt. In the same period African cargoes transported annually to China rose by over 48mt, based on official Chinese import figures. This relationship clearly demonstrates the significance of China for the development of African trade. Although South Africa was the main origin of iron ore purchases by Chinese buyers, supplying 43mt last year, increasing volumes were bought from Mauritania, reaching 9mt in 2013. During last year and the preceding year, Sierra Leone became a much more important supplier to China, with the annual quantity surging to 12mt in 2013. Smaller volumes in the past twelve months were derived from Liberia (just over 1mt) plus a minor 0.2mt from Guinea.

Iron ore exports from South Africa more than doubled in the past ten years. From 23mt in 2003, the total rose to 58mt in 2013. The largest part of this growth occurred within the past five years, reflecting greatly increased volumes purchased by Chinese buyers. Ore deposits are mainly located in the Northern Cape Province, where Kumba Resources’ Sishen mine is by far the biggest. This mining area is linked by a railway, 860 kilometres in length, to Saldanha Bay port north-west of Cape Town, which has a terminal (operating since the mid-1970s), designed for capesize bulk carriers.

The ramping up of iron ore exports from West Africa within the past few years is particularly noteworthy. Mauritania’s shipments showed gradual growth over the past decade. Liberia and Sierra Leone, by contrast, remained absent from the international market until 2011 when they both resumed participation on a minimal scale; then there was a rapid building up of sales over the next two years.

In Mauritania, sales historically were focused on Europe’s steel industry, involving a relatively short-haul sea voyage implying lower transport costs compared with more distant sources. Since the mid-2000s a changing emphasis towards Asian markets resulted in the share of long-haul shipments from Mauritania growing. Although the total exported by state-owned iron ore miner SNIM increased only slowly to 13mt in 2013, volumes shipped to China rose very strongly, resulting in China becoming by far the largest customer. This growth was assisted by Nouadhibou port’s recently enlarged ability to load capesize bulk carriers (typically 180,000 deadweight tonnes capacity), often the most economical vessel size for ore trades.

Liberia’s iron ore production ceased during the civil conflict, which persisted from 1989 for fourteen years. In September 2011 global steel producer ArcelorMittal restarted ore exports, when a 63,000 tons panamax size shipment was loaded at Buchanan port. As volumes from the Yekepa, Nimba mine rose, an offshore loading facility for capesize bulk carriers was subsequently introduced. Then, at the beginning of this year, shipments resumed from the long-closed Bong mine. New operators China Union (part of Wuhan Iron & Steel), a majority shareholder in Bong, plan to move 50,000 tonnes monthly through 2014 to China from a new pier at the port of Monrovia.

Also in this mineral-rich corner of West Africa, Sierra Leone’s iron ore mining has come back to life vigorously. A 50,900 deadweight bulk carrier departed from the port of Pepel in November 2011 carrying an ore cargo, reinstating another long-defunct operation. Mining company African Minerals has installed a capesize transshipment facility at Pepel to serve its Tonkolili mine. Another mining company, London Mining, began exporting from its Marampa mine in 2012, utilising river barge movements and a transshipment operation at the port of Freetown.

A curious venture

All these three West African countries – Mauritania, Liberia and Sierra Leone – have plans to greatly expand iron ore production and exports over the next few years at least. Another project, regularly making newspaper headlines, is the plans to develop a vast iron ore deposit contained within the Simandou mountain range of Guinea. This project, which could eventually yield up to 100mt of high-quality ore annually for foreign markets, has seen controversial ownership changes. One prominent problem for the developers is the proposed mine’s remote location, requiring construction of a 650 kilometer railroad through difficult terrain to the port of Conakry. The total cost has been variously estimated at $18-20 billion, including mine infrastructure, building a new railway, plus developing the port to handle large ships.

The renewed prominence of the name Simandou resonates with events about fifty years ago. During the early 1960s, iron ore was being produced in Guinea at a deposit about five miles from Conakry and exported to Europe, mainly to the United Kingdom. The Guinean government decided to purchase a new bulk carrier, intending to employ it in the ore trade from Guinea to the UK. This story is told by Iain Harrison, founder and chairman of shipowners and managers Harrisons (Clyde) Ltd, in his fascinating history of the family company, entitled ‘A Curious Venture’. A bulk carrier of 15,000 deadweight tons named ‘Simandou’ was ordered from shipbuilders Scotts of Greenock and delivered in 1963. Harrisons arranged the deal and were appointed managers. But a long term contract for employment in the intended iron ore trade proved unobtainable, and so the ship was used in open market dry cargo trades around the world.

A generation game

Africa’s coal exports scene has been dominated by South Africa. But the South African trend over the past ten years was fairly flat, as various influences restrained sales despite robustly growing global import demand. Supplies from South Africa mainly comprise steam coal, chiefly used in electricity generation. A small proportion, less than 2 percent, of exports is coking coal used by the steel industry. After totalling 71mt in 2003, there was a dip in the 2008 and 2009 period down to 63mt annually, before a recovery to 74mt in 2013. During this period, emphasis switched away from European destinations towards faster growing Asian markets, especially India, and also China.

Although South Africa is ideally situated to supply both Atlantic and Pacific markets, this advantage was not exploited to maximum benefit in recent years. Most coalfields are located in the country’s north east, and are linked by rail to the principal coal loading port of Richards Bay, on the east coast north of Durban. This port has been expanded greatly to enable huge volumes to be handled, theoretically now 91mt annually, but the higher capacity remains under-utilised. Lack of strong growth has been attributed to inadequate rail transport connections with the coalfields, and also to insufficient mining capacity, together restricting sales.

While South Africa’s coal exports are much larger in volume than exports from other African countries, developments elsewhere in the past few years have often attracted a far greater degree of interest. This characteristic particularly applies to Mozambique, where the challenges for producer exporters could be described as tough, similar to those faced by some new iron ore shippers in West Africa. Mozambique, and also Botswana, possess huge deposits of good quality coal, but developing the infrastructure (railroads and ports) required to enable access to international markets is a hugely expensive and lengthy process.

Coal mines in the Tete province of Mozambique, where coking as well as steam coal grades are available, started exporting small quantities in 2011, leading to more substantial exports of about 3mt in 2012. Brazilian mining company Vale started producing at the Moatize mine in 2011, transporting coal along the 575 kilometre Sena railway to Beira port. Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto began producing at the Benga mine in 2012. Last year, a further increase in the country’s exports, reportedly to about 5mt, was seen.

Expanding the capacity of the existing rail route, and building a new route, will enable more coal to be exported from Mozambique. The Sena railway is being upgraded from a maximum 6.5mt annually to 20mt, and the handling capacity at Beira is being raised. A new 912 kilometre line carrying coal through Malawi to a new deepwater loading port at Nacala in northern Mozambique is due for completion at the end of 2014, with potential for carrying up to 18mt exports.

Problems associated with developing mineral resources for export were highlighted by a news item at the end of July this year. The Financial Times reported that Rio Tinto had finalised the sale of its Benga coal mine and other Mozambique coal assets, to an Indian state-owned company, for $50 million. This price tag is only a small fraction of the $3.7 billion originally paid by Rio Tinto in 2011 for the Riversdale company owning these assets, described by the FT as a “disastrous acquisition.” The logistical challenges of transporting coal from Tete to the coast, and a reduced estimate of recoverable coking coal volumes had been identified earlier as key problems, amplified later by the adverse impact of sharply lower international prices.

Maritime momentum

Looking at how the sea trade scene as a whole has been evolving, the pull of increasing demand from Asian markets, in particular China and India clearly has been a crucial factor stimulating and underpinning Africa’s dry bulk commodity exports growth. Assuming that this influence remains favourable over the years ahead, further expansion in a number of trades seems predictable although timescales and volumes are harder to estimate precisely. Large-scale iron ore and coal mining projects are under way in several countries already, as we have seen, and more are planned, together with related infrastructure developments, aimed at expanding foreign sales.

The sheer magnitude of the task of organising minerals movements, from inland locations to coastal loading ports, for onwards sea transportation to foreign markets, has sometimes been daunting. For several projects the costs are proving almost prohibitive. This problem is, of course, related to commodity prices obtainable on the world market. If prices are high enough, projects with even excessive costs can prove profitable. But recently iron ore and coal prices have fallen steeply from peak levels as huge additional relatively low-cost supplies become available around the world, resulting in greater challenges for some developing African projects.

International seaborne movements of dry bulk cargoes originating in African countries are not entirely confined to iron ore and coal. These two commodities have seen probably the most impressive developments and export growth in the past decade, but others are significant. Among minerals, bauxite and its processed form alumina, especially from Guinea is a key element, while phosphates from Morocco is another prominent example. Altogether, annual mineral exports by sea from Africa have grown by about 50 percent during the past ten years, to an estimated total now exceeding 200mt, as mentioned earlier. This expansion has raised the continent’s status in the global shipping market. It has been reflected in the much higher deadweight volume of bulk carriers employed in trades, many involving long-haul routes, beginning in ports in West African and southern African countries.

Royal Navy HMS Enterprise takes Britons from Libya to Malta

The Royal Navy is preparing to help British citizens leave Libya as continued fighting and gunfire at Tripoli’s airport kills 22.

The Libyan interim government said “heavily armed groups” have shelled “civilian targets”, putting thousands of citizens in danger and displacing hundreds of families.

The Foreign Office has advised British people to leave the country immediately and is temporarily closing its embassy in Tripoli.

The MOD said the government was helping to “provide assisted departure for a number of UK nationals”.

BBC political correspondent Chris Mason said: “I’m told the number of British nationals in the country is not huge – it is in the hundreds, rather than the thousands. Commercial routes to leave the country are still open.

“The Foreign Office has already announced that it will suspend the operations of its embassy in Tripoli after fighting in the capital intensified, including near the embassy building itself.

“But I’m told staff at the embassy are yet to leave – as they have been supervising the evacuation of those Britons who want to leave.”

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) said: “As the FCO has made clear, the UK government will provide assisted departure for a number of UK nationals before suspending consular operations on Monday.”

The latest casualties in the fighting has claimed more than 200 lives in recent weeks, with 72 people wounded in Saturday’s violent skirmishes.

The fighting on Saturday came as more than three-quarters of Libya’s newly elected parliament met for the first time in Tobrouk, a city near the Egyptian border chosen by a prominent anti-Islamist politician, according to an AP report. Political experts believe this signals a swing against Islamist parties and extremist militias.

The violence across Libya has led to the closure of several foreign missions and the withdrawal of diplomats.

On Saturday, a Greek naval frigate evacuated embassy staff and nearly 200 citizens from Greece, China and other countries from Libya.

They say pigs can’t fly but they sure can swim.

Its Friday afternoon so we have all been looking forward to what the weekend holds. One of these day dreams would be sunny ourselves on a far away island with shimmering white sands and crystal blue waters, however how would you feel about sharing this space with some swimming pigs………

You might have thought about swimming with dolphins, fish, even maybe sharks, but wild pigs?

Well, the day wild pigs swim has arrived on the Bahamian archipelago of Exuma. The island called Big Major Cay is affectionately nicknamed Pig Island because that is where the wild pigs roam free on land and water.

The pigs are said to have been dropped off on Big Major Cay by a group of sailors who wanted to come back and cook them.The sailors, though, never returned; the pigs survived on excess food dumped from passing ships.

One other legend has it that the pigs were survivors of a shipwreck and managed to swim to shore, while another claims that the pigs had escaped from a nearby islet.

Others suggest that the pigs were part of a business scheme to attract tourists to the Bahamas. The pigs are now fed by locals and tourists and the island is unofficially known as Pig Beach by the locals

Whatever the story is the island is worth trotting over to visit to experience swimming with the swines

Eastbourne pier fire

Fire crews have saved two thirds of Eastbourne Pier after fire destroyed part of the structure, leaving a metal skeleton.

The blaze broke out on Wednesday afternoon behind some wood paneling in the arcade building.

Just after 3pm a fire took hold in the wooden wall panels of the former 900-seat music pavilion and ballroom, which is now an amusement arcade. Thick black smoke was soon billowing up into the sky which, until then, had been the blue of a perfect day at the seaside. Holidaymakers on the beach watched as 60 firemen, later increased to 80, struggled to douse the flames which engulfed the near end of the 330-yard pier.

The fire was initially described by authorities as “small” and there were even cheers when the first engines arrived. But any hope of stopping the destruction of the town’s Grade II* listed landmark faded quickly as a fierce blaze stripped it back to a smouldering metal shell.

Despite the devastation, the pier was safely evacuated and nobody was injured, but a police cordon was repeatedly pushed back along the promenade as loud explosions emanated from the inferno.

It is 148 years since the first pile of Eastbourne Pier was driven into the sea bed. Designed by Eugenius Birch, the Victorian architect who crafted much of Britain’s south coast, the pier was officially opened by Lord Edward Cavendish on June 13 1870.

It was the age of expansion, when seaside towns across the country were following the example set by Ryde pier on the Isle of Wight — 200 years old this week — and constructing increasingly elaborate wood and wrought iron edifices that jutted further and further out to sea.

Eastbourne was no exception. By 1888, the first 400-seat theatre had been built on the pier at a cost of £250 at the seaward end. A 1,000-seat theatre, bar, camera obscura and pier office complex followed, and in 1925, the music pavilion was constructed at the shoreward end.

But the elements have long inspired against the pier. In 1877, a New Year’s Day storm washed part of the shoreward end away. A century later, hurricane damage tore through the landing stage.

According to Tim Wardley, the chairman of the National Piers Society, the “constant onslaught of Mother Nature” has halved the number of British piers to just 61 over the course of a century.

Fire presents the gravest risk. The pier’s Pavilion Theatre was destroyed by a blaze in 1970.

Further along the coast, Southend Pier, the longest pleasure pier in the world at 2,360 yds, was devastated by its fourth fire in 50 years in 2005, destroying a pub, restaurant, fish and chip shop as well as an arcade and train station. The Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare was badly damaged by a blaze in 2008, while in 2010, the Grade II-listed Hastings Pier was almost completely destroyed.

In May 2002, more than £1.5 million of damage was caused to a pier in Hunstanton, Norfolk, when it was engulfed in flames.

Some piers do recover, such as Weston-super-Mare which was reopened by Princess Anne in 2011.

In 2003, the 148-year-old West Pier in Brighton was left a mass of derelict metal by two major blazes within two months.

In February, part of the ruin collapsed after being battered by winds of up to 70mph and rough seas. The pier, which is not maintained, was shut in 1975 after being deemed unsafe. Its crumbling skeleton, still standing sentinel not far from the shore, is slowly being reclaimed by the sea.

But each time Eastbourne Pier’s sturdy foundations have come under threat, it has so far stood firm.

Even when the order came in World War Two to blow up the pier in an attempt to stop it being used to aid an enemy invasion, the building was spared and gun platforms were instead installed in its theatre to ward off German ships.

Five years ago, the pier was put up for sale for £5 million, but a successful summer season ensued and it was taken off the market just months later. Still the crowds come to enjoy the sort of attractions that only the English seaside can provide. The pier’s Victorian camera obscura remains in situ as the last surviving working example on a pier left in the world.

In two weeks, Eastbourne’s annual air show, Airbourne – the town’s biggest tourist event held on the seafront – was due to draw in tens of thousands of visitors.

They may still come, but this summer season has been blighted for holidaymakers and residents of Eastbourne alike.

On Wednesday evening, Stephen Lloyd, the Liberal Democrat MP for Eastbourne, said: “I hope and pray that our wonderful pier has not been lost forever.”

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Maritime Piracy in West Africa – A Big Problem, Poorly Reported

By Lisa Otto

Visiting Researcher – Greenwich Maritime Institute

D.Phil Candidate – University of Johannesburg

The problem of maritime piracy in West Africa has grown significantly in recent years such that it has come to constitute the world’s most troubling piratical hotspot, with incidents occurring across the Gulf of Guinea region. According to the UK Chamber of Shipping, incidents climbed to 62 in 2012 while coming in at 51 in 2013, and this as the European Union Institute for Security Studies estimates that only a third of pirate attacks were reported, suggesting that the breadth of the problem may be far greater than we imagine.

The word piracy, however, is a bit of a misnomer in the West African case as the model of piracy at play targets vessels within territorial waters rather than on the high seas, revolving around the sub-region’s oil industry, but has all the same gained the moniker of ‘petro-piracy’. As such, this model is glaringly distinguishable from its more famous Somali counterpart, which is perhaps one of the reasons that legal expert Douglas Guilfoyle, for one, has preferred to refer to ‘piracies’ rather than the more generalist ‘piracy’.

Indeed, the Gulf of Guinea model of piracy is unique in its focus on oil, with kidnap-for-ransom being conducted as more of a side-business than being the main slant of operations. The vast majority of attacks have emanated from Nigeria, where small and opportunistic gangs initially robbed berthed vessels of personal effects and money, which were then resold at local markets, but since then, incidents have become more frequent, have been perpetrated by larger groups and shifted to be directed specifically toward the oil industry.

The legacy of oil in Nigeria’s Niger Delta in particular has had an important role to play in the rise of petro-piracy as environmental degradation further marginalised communities already bereft of economic opportunities, in the context of a social development landscape where oil rents have not made their way back to the populace in the form of political goods. This has driven locals to organised criminal groups and sent them to sea for the theft of oil products, contributed to by large-scale onshore oil bunkering operations that thieve approximately 200,000 barrels of oil per day. In fact, the Nigerian economy loses around US$12 billion in oil annually as a result, with the illicit product, sometimes crudely refined, making its way into sub-regional and international markets.

Despite the sheer scale of these activities, West African piracy does not enjoy nearly as much media coverage or academic attention as its erstwhile Somali counterpart. Perhaps oil theft and petro-piracy is not as ‘sexy’ to report on than Hollywood-worthy Captain Phillips-esque hostage sagas, but the phenomenon nonetheless presents a sizeable economic and security challenge whose impacts reach far beyond Nigerian shores.

This, of course, has consequences for the application of solutions to the problem, as poor reportage may impact upon the will of potential partners to act. Having said this however, several instruments for the combat of piracy are in place at a sub-regional level, assisted by the likes of the International Maritime Ogranisation, but need greater impetus for their application.

This is not helped by the alarming prevalence of corruption in Nigeria, with political and military officials, as well as even oil companies being implicated and involved in these crimes, effectively benefiting from competing interests on either side of formal – informal and legal – illegal divides. Whilst these issues speak to more complex and deeply entrenched maladies of the country’s political fabric which need solving in their right, greater awareness of the problem of maritime piracy in West African can play a crucial role in mounting public pressure to fight against the tide of petro-piracy there, and spur a greater sense of willingness for action amongst actors locally, those in the sub-region as well as their partners in the international community.

Ballerinas in containers, Women are heroes container ship project sets sail

Earlier this month French street artist and human rights champion JR launched one of his most unique projects yet when a giant shipping container ship set sail from le Havre, France to Malaysia. Adorned with the giant eyes of a Kenyan woman living in the Kibera Slums along with an image of a ballet dancer from his recent Les BosquetsNYC ballet production, the giant moving artwork served as the culmination of his Women Are Heroesart project that began in 2007.

“In 2007, I started Women Are Heroes to pay tribute to those who play an essential role in society, but who are the primary victims of war, crime, rape or political and religious fanaticism,” explains the artist. “I pasted portraits and eyes of women on a train in Kenya, a Favela in Brazil, and a demolished house in Cambodia. They gave their trust and asked for a single promise to make their story travel with me. I did it, on the bridges of Paris and the walls of Phnom penh, the building of New York, etc. I wanted to finish Women Are Heroes with a ship leaving a port, with a huge image which would look microscopic after a few minutes, with the idea of these women who stay in their villages and face difficulties in the regions torn by wars and poverty facing the infinity of the ocean. I have no idea of what is in the containers on the boat: stuff from people leaving a country to build a different life in another region, goods that will be transformed, worn, or eaten in a different country. I have no idea where and how people will see this artwork, but I am sure that some women far away will feel something today.”

Keep your eyes peeled this month as the ship travels across the Mediterranean sea, past the Suez Canal to its final destination in Malaysia…

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Treasure trove of classic cars at the bottom of the sea from the SS Thistlegorm

Recent photo’s have been released from the wreck of SS Thistlegorm.

She set sail on her fourth and final voyage from Glasgow on 2 June 1941, destined for Alexandria, Egypt. The vessel’s cargo included: Bedford trucks, Universal Carrier armoured vehicles, Norton 16H and BSA Motorcyles, Bren guns, cases of ammunition, and 0.303 rifles as well as radio equipment, Wellington Boots, aircraft parts, and two LMS Stainer Class8F Steam locomotives.These steam locomotives and their associated coal and water tenders were carried as deck cargo and were for the Egyptian Railways. The rest of the cargo was for the Allied forces in Egypt. At the time the Thistlegorm sailed from Glasgow in June, this was the Western Desert Force, which in September 1941 became part of the newly formed Eight Army. The crew of the ship, under Captain William Ellis, were supplemented by 9 naval personnel to man the machine gun and the anti-aircraft gun.

Due to German and Italian naval and air force activity in the Mediterranean, the Thistlegorm sailed as part of a convoy via Cape Town, South Africa, where she refueled, before heading north up the East coast of Africa and into the Red Sea. On leaving Cape Town, the light cruiser HMS Carlise joined the convoy. Due to a collision in the Suez Canal, the convoy could not transit through the canal to reach the port of Alexandria and instead moored at Safe Anchorage F,in September 1941 where she remained at anchor until her sinking on 6 October 1941. HMS Carlisle moored in the same anchorage.

There was a large build-up of Allied troops in Egypt during September 1941 and German intelligence ( Abwehr) suspected that there was a troop carrier in the area bringing in additional troops. Two Heinkel He-111 aircraft were dispatched from Crete to find and destroy the troop carrier. This search failed but one of the bombers discovered the vessels moored in Safe Anchorage F. Targeting the largest ship, they dropped two bombs on the Thistlegorm, both of which struck hold 4 near the stern of the ship at 0130 on 6 October. The bomb and the explosion of some of the ammunition stored in hold 4 led to the sinking of the Thistlegormwith the loss of four sailors and five members of the Royal Navy gun crew. Mr. Rejda single-handedly saved most of the sailors by swimming into the wreck and towing them to safety.

The survivors were picked up by HMS Carlisle. Captain Ellis was awarded the OBE for his actions following the explosion and a crewman, Angus McLeay, was awarded the George Medal and the Lloyd’s War Medal for Bravery at sea for saving another crew member. Most of the cargo remained within the ship, the major exception being the steam locomotives from the deck cargo which were blown off to either side of the wreck.