TIME FOR PORT. UNDER THE WAVES Ports simply can t keep dredging at their own will they have to consider the law

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1 ISSUE SEVEN 2011 Shipping &MARINE The magazine for maritime management Come to the rescue Emergency response and rescue vessels are continuing to evolve due to market demands CAN YOU DIG IT? TIME FOR PORT UNDER THE WAVES Ports simply can t keep dredging at their own will they have to consider the law Aberdeen Harbour has received more than 200 million worth of investment When it comes to wind power, the underwater equipment must be respected

2 Profile: Breadbox Shipping Lines Into Africa Recently acquired a multi-purpose vessel Offers strong links between Europe and West Africa At the centre of rapidly growing economies When first established by Joris Bakker in 2001, Breadbox Shipping Lines built a business on shipping onion and potato cargos on specialised reefer vessels from Flushing, the Netherlands, to a number of ports along Africa s west coast. Ten years later this still remains one of its more important business streams, but Breadbox Shipping has also gradually added a range of other services to its portfolio. The second service we developed is our timber and log liner service, says Joris. We chartered the northbound return leg of ro-ro vessels that were carrying cars from the Netherlands to Nigeria and used them to service the timber industry, mainly transporting sawn timber in bundles from West Africa to Dakar, Senegal, and Cape Verde. We still operate this service today but now use a combination of ro-ro ships and multipurpose vessels (MPVs). This is because not every port in West Africa is suited to ro-ro operations, nor are ro-ro s suitable for the shipments of logs. Three years ago we also began a multi-purpose parcel service 41

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4 Profile: Breadbox Shipping Lines between the Iberian Peninsula, and West Africa later followed by a service from Black Sea Turkey to West Africa. These services are maintained with MPVs of between 5000 and 10,000 DWT. The main cargo on these lines is steel products and cement as well as project cargo. On top of that we also have our coastal line of four to five small MPVs trading conventional cargo permanently along the West African coast. Breadbox Shipping operates between ten and 15 vessels at any one time, with the majority of these being timechartered. Its reefer vessels, for example, are chartered from specialist Dutch reefer ship owner SeaTrade, a company that Joris worked for previous to establishing Breadbox Shipping. His history with SeaTrade has seen especially close ties between the two companies, Joris even describing the relationship as SeaTrade providing hardware whilst Breadbox Shipping provides the software. Looking at the rest of its fleet, Breadbox Shipping s ro-ro vessels are chartered whilst MPVs used by the company are part owned and part chartered. Recently the company acquired its fourth owned vessel, a 92 built 3500-tonner tweendeck MPV, that will be used specifically on the company s activities along the West African coast. It was purchased two weeks ago and is now being upgraded for service before being renamed as the MV Breadbox Falcon, explains the managing director. The Falcon has two cranes of 50-tonnes combinable for 100-ton total lifting capacity that will be ideal for coastal traffic and smaller project cargo. As a twin-deck it is truly a multipurpose type of vessel that will prove incredibly handy for our activities. These illustrate Breadbox Shipping s primary commitment to West Africa, a region that presents as many challenges as it does opportunities. There are obstacles in the form of port congestion, for example, which makes reliable and on-time delivery a difficult process to meet, or with break bulk cargo and the poor loading/off-loading management sometimes occurring within port. On top of this is the increasing threat of piracy throughout African waters that of course presents huge safety and insurance risks. Nevertheless the company takes an optimistic approach, seeing these as VAN DOOSSELAERE & ACHTEN Breadbox Shipping Lines is represented in Belgium by Van Doosselaere & Achten (VDA), established in 1939 and still one of the leading financially independent, family-owned ship agencies in Antwerp. VDA, as logistic provider, offers roundthe-clock, dedicated and professional services to its principals and customers, with long-lasting experience in both West- & South-Africa, covering containers, ro/ ro, break bulk and project cargoes. 43

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6 Profile: Breadbox Shipping Lines The timing right now is interesting for purchases and because we have both the capacity and financial support to do so, we have a strategy for further MPV acquisitions to support our liner services challenges to be overcome and, having succeeded for a decade now, it feels comfortable in this environment. Furthermore, despite a global recession in addition to its daily challenges, business has remained vibrant for Breadbox Shipping. This fact, highlighted by the acquisition of the Falcon, looks to continue into the future alongside the ongoing strengthening of economies in West Africa. We came through the crisis in a strong position and we see there is now an ideal moment for investment, especially in multi-purpose tonnage, Joris explains. The timing right now is interesting for purchases and because we have both the capacity and financial support to do so, we have a strategy for further MPV acquisitions to support our liner services. The company is part of a wider group headed by Breadbox Holding, Breadbox Shipping being the group s central activity. It has two sister divisions: Quality Marine Services (QMS), a technical management firm that handles all such 45

7 Profile: Breadbox Shipping Lines services for Breadbox Shipping s vessels; and Istamco, which handles port operations, stevedoring, agency and onshore logistics from an office in Dakar as well as a recent agency office set up in Banjul, The Gambia. The three work closely together, combining their skills to provide clients with a complete package of services, generating the financial support and experience to ensure the coming years remain positive for the whole group. All of this in mind, Joris concludes with a promising outlook on the future geography of Breadbox Shipping: I see coastal activity and multi-purpose parcel services as an area where we can still grow. Our service from Black Sea Turkey to West Africa, for example, still needs to be strengthened. We expect that sometime during 2011 we will offer a more frequent service on this route, upgrading from one ship every four to six weeks to a ship twice every month. We also see further development of coastal activity between Southern Africa and West Africa and look forward to being at the heart of this growth. v 46