Page 34: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2015)

MARKET UPDATE: BREAKBULK & HEAVY LIFT

Opportunities for growth as the economy in

China Evolves

BY WOLFGANG HARMS he global breakbulk and health and safety. breakbulk and project cargo shipments, Bank of China reducing policy rates and heavy-lift markets have had Yet, despite these challenges there in conjunction with the signi? cant the reserve requirement ratio since No- to navigate choppy waters is genuine positivity and opportunity growth in renewable projects that we are vember. Additionally Nomura believe

Tin recent years. Not neces- within the multipurpose sector. In par- also seeing in Europe and beyond. that the government will soon of? cially sarily due to a shortage of freight, but ticular, for the progressive operators that However, it is China – as the most con- lower its growth target for 2016 to assist as a consequence of unsustainably low espouse ? exibility, dynamism and ef? - spicuous industrial trader – that provides with the ongoing process of economic freight rates. The global economic re- ciency, they have been able to respond to an insightful look in terms of what is restructuring, and that this is likely to be covery since 2009 has been slow, and the market’s changing demands, as well changing in the multi-purpose segment, supported by increased ? scal assistance competition for the multipurpose sector as growth in speci? c regions, and the and the challenges, and opportunities to boost infrastructure spending.

has intensi? ed due to bulkers, container changing nature of the cargo those ves- that lie ahead. Concerns about China’s A key part of this will be the One lines and RoRo’s making forays into the sels are required to carry. deceleration are justi? ed to some extent. Belt, One Road national development breakbulk and heavylift market, as they Thanks to the increasing number of re- It responded to the global ? nancial crisis strategy. Since it was unveiled in 2013, look to diversify their business and make newable energy infrastructure projects, in 2008 with extensive policy stimulus, China has been mobilizing its political, up for the lack of demand in their respec- as many developing Asian economies which has left many banks, businesses economic, and diplomatic resources to tive core markets. It is a concerning begin to pivot away from fossil fuels, and local governments substantially further integrate itself into the world trend that could serve to devalue quality Asia has played a key role in being the leveraged. Steps are being taken to pre- economy through trade, investment, in- within the sector, as well as impacting global driver in recent years for these vent a hard landing, with the People’s frastructure, connectivity, and other de-

China invested more than $89 billion in renewable energy projects in 2014 – a growth of 31% on the previous year. Beijing is aiming to generate 200 gigawatts (GW) of electricity from wind and 100 GW of solar by 2020.

34 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News • NOVEMBER 2015

MR #11 (34-41).indd 34 10/30/2015 10:32:19 AM