Project cargo carriers form alliance

BBC Chartering and Jumbo, two of the world’s largest heavy-lift vessel fleet operators, have entered into an alliance that will allow the companies to jointly bid for shipper’s cargoes.    Two of the world’s largest heavy-lift vessel fleet operators, BBC Chartering and Jumbo, have entered into an alliance that will allow the companies to jointly bid for shipper’s cargoes, the carriers said in a joint statement Tuesday.
   “As alliance partners we seek to fully utilize our potential arising from BBC Chartering’s market position as leader in the volume market for projects and from Jumbo’s market position as leader in super heavy-lift projects,” said Twan Voogt, Jumbo’s chief commercial officer.
   “We realize that the world of project shipping is changing rapidly, and that our organizations need to focus on building strategic assets that will enable them to create value in the future,” added BBC’s CEO Svend Andersen. 
    The Global Project Alliance members, if necessary, will supplement their fleets with additional roll-on/roll-off vessel capacity when competing on project cargoes. They will also look to provide these shippers with pre- and on-carriage, documentation support and container consolidations when required by the project.
   The Dutch carrier Jumbo operates a fleet of vessels with more than 1,800 metric tons of lift capacity, while BBC of Germany counts about 180 vessels with lift capacities of 900 metric tons and larger.