Competitiveness of Polish Container Ports
Polish consumers could save money and the Polish Government earn billions of zloty in extra import duties if the bulk of container traffic from the Far East was directed through Polish ports rather than through German and Benelux ports, according to Boris Wenzel, CEO of the Deepwater Container Terminal in Gdansk. A switch to Gdansk would also create thousands of new jobs in the Tri-city and reduce the high Co2 emissions associated with trucking and railing containers to Poland from ports like Rotterdam and Hamburg, believes Mr. Wenzel. “Over the past decade Hamburg and Rotterdam have taken advantage of Poland’s rapid economic growth to develop into this country’s largest container gateways“ says Mr. Wenzel.
LNG Fleet Needs to Triple by 2020
World LNG demand is forecast to rise from 158 billion cubic meter (bcm) to 269 bcm by 2010 and to 428.5 bcm by 2020. This growth represents an average annual trade growth of 7.6% over the near-term, with a slowing to 5.4% through to 2015 and 4.9% up to 2020. Such trade growth will necessitate an increased vessel building program. Currently there are 59 vessels on order, but to match the expected development of trade volumes an additional 33 vessels are required through to 2010, 76 vessels in the period 2010-15 and 83 vessels up to 2020. These are some of the findings of the new report on the LNG sector, published by Ocean Shipping Consultants Ltd.
LPG Fleet Rates Rise
The world LPG carrier fleet is forecast to expand from 14.5 million cu. beginning of 2005 to 24.6 million cu. m. by 2015. World seaborne LPG trade (including ammonia and petchems) is forecast to increase from 73 mt to 132 mt over the same period. These are some of the findings in the new detailed report – entitled ‘LPG Carriers: Market Prospects to 2015’ – which analyses the current and historical developments within the LPG carrier sector and examines the prospects for trade and fleet development under alternative scenarios, presenting detailed forecasts for trade volumes, fleet requirements and freight rates through to 2015. • The world LPG fleet was estimated at 14.5m cu.
