# shipping delays



## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

SHIPPING DELAYS
The Australian economy is booming due to the huge demands for iron ore, coal and other minerals from China, India and Japan and while the coal mines of the East Coast are at full production and the shipping is eagerly waiting to load, the Government infrastructures of rail and port loading facilities are woefully lagging behind. Over the last twelve months we have seen up to 150 bulk carriers standing of shore simultaneously waiting to load, some at anchor for a month or more at a time.
Today’s paper reports that coal ship queues off the port of Newcastle averaged 55 last year and there are currently 33 vessels in the stream. 
The Queensland coal ports are faring no better and up to 100 ships can be waiting off shore at any one time in fact a figure of 53 ships was quoted as the number off Dalrymple Bay near Mackay 10 days ago when a large low pressure system settled off the Queensland coast to bring un characteristic strong winds up to 100 km/hr and big seas to the area causing all these vessels to put to sea for their safety.
The off shore anchorage is inside the Great Barrier Reef and I presume that they must have to steam well outside the reef zone for their own and the Marine park’s security.
I am an old engine room man but I can well imagine the nightmare for deck officers when so many so big ships have to take flight like a swarm of bees and in worsening weather. Then there is the task of returning to port in an orderly fashion to continue the long wait.
Our politicians roll with the punches as the complaints from industry and the observant public are made then cite the old argument of “Rome was not built in a day” and “this boom could not have been foreseen” and it is hard to accept that this could be happening any where else in the world and the mind boggles to think of the huge waste, inconvenience and costs being incurred by the shipping industry in this area. 
Is this the norm in other shipping zones?


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## Ron Stringer (Mar 15, 2005)

bob jenkins said:


> SHIPPING DELAYS
> it is hard to accept that this could be happening any where else in the world


Shades of Columbo and Lagos in the 1960s and 70s


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## Thamesphil (Jul 22, 2005)

These delays might be an inconvenience, but with all these large bulkers awaiting berth for long periods and effectively out of the supply chain, the number of vessels available for charter becomes fewer. This exacerbates an already tight market where charterers are screaming out for tonnage to fuel heavy demand for raw materials in China, record charter rates are being paid, and where most owners of large bulkers are very, very happy at the moment.


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## fred henderson (Jun 13, 2005)

*Freight Rates*

In fact the charter rates on the Baltic Exchange have been falling sharply for the past few weeks. China has tightened credit availability to its manufacturers, increased interest rates and has applied the brakes. At the same time the Far East shipyards are increasing bulk carrier, tanker and container ship output by about 20% per year. I think that the shipowners will not have a bumper year in 2008.

Fred


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## cboots (Aug 16, 2004)

Interesting what Fred posts above. I have been out of the shipping game for many years now but, following a career at sea, and a spell back in further education, I did try my hand on the shoreside of the industry for a while. It does not take long there to realise that owners on the whole react to any and every suggestion of an upturn, let alone a boom, by dashing off to the builders' yards to place orders. It is, and seems likely to remain, a highly cyclical industry.
CBoots


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