There have been many reports recently of coffee traders choosing to ship their cargo in bags on breakbulk vessels over standard containers in container ships.
Bloomberg reported that Indonesian coffee trading firm, Olam International, were finding containers hard to get during the Covid crisis, and have returned to bags and breakbulk shipping.
‘If you speak to some of the older traders, it was the late ’80s, or perhaps the early 90s, when they last did this, so it’s a new frontier,’ said Olam International vice president Manish Dhawan, whose firm recently chartered the breakbulk ship Eagle.
Cargo owners are locking in long-term multipurpose/heavy-lift (MPV/HL) tonnage despite record daily charter rates. The shift to longer-term charters signals a continuing rebound for MPV/HL operators.
