THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY: A Dry Bulk Owner’s Perspective

by Esref Cerrahoglu

It is a great privilege to be in Monaco addressing this conference, especially as this coincides with the golden jubilee of His Serene Highness Prince Rainier. I am very pleased to be sharing the platform with such a distinguished panel of speakers and to be addressing such a knowledgeable audience.

We have been given a very wide topic on which to present our thoughts bearing in mind that world seaborne trade exceeds 5 billion tonnes per annum and is carried by a world fleet of over 700 million DWT. Therefore, I intend to restrict myself to the areas which I know best being the dry bulk market, and more generally shipping in the Black Sea and Aegean regions.

When I was first approached at the end of last year to speak at this conference, I agreed with some concern as our industry is experiencing its worst depression since the mid eighties. This depression has spread to all the major sectors – Dry Cargo, Tankers, Reefers and Liners – with only the Cruise sector still enjoying a relatively good market. I was worried that I would have to stand here and spread more gloom and doom to an already depressed audience.

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