REN Jie, Managing Director of BBC Chartering China. He has 30 years of working experience in bulky and project cargo shipping.

1. What is your view on the development prospects of the entire breakbulk and project cargo transportation market this year, and particularly the trend of freight rates?
Since 2022, the logistic market is entering a period of cooling down. With the rise and fall of freight rates due to containers, the entire market, in my opinion, has been fluctuating. Containers account for a considerable share of the market, the multi-purpose ships for breakbulk are basically in a state of risk. But as far as the market for breakbulk and project cargo is concerned, after all, the scale of our market and the size of the fleet are not very large, and we do not have as much investment in new ships and shipping capacity as containers do. Our new ships, shipyards, and dock schedules are actually dominated by container ships and bulk carriers. Therefore, in fact, there are not many shipyards interested in breakbulk ships, resulting in a very limited number of new ships being built at present. On the other hand, there are more and more ships that have been in our market for more than 20 years, but new shipbuilding is decreasing due to various factors such as cost and shipyards. Of course, it will drift, but it may soon stabilize. In a way, I think that the decline in this market is the main theme of this year. But it is likely to recover, with a relatively stable supply-demand relationship, and there may not be a situation like container ships suddenly blocking the port of Los Angeles for 100 days, causing a temporary shortage of shipping capacity.

2. What impact will the new wave of offshore wind power construction triggered by Europe's energy crisis have on our shipping industry? Does BBC have any strategies to seize the opportunity, or from the perspective of transport capacity, what kind of deployment will be made?
As one of the new engery sources, wind power is widely sought-after. Europe's energy crisis may force offshore or onshore wind power to develop faster to make up for the shortage. In this context, most of the wind power in the shipping industry will generate a large demand for transportation, because the production location and drop site vary from project to project. Wind power has been BBC's main business and a very important step for many years. Even though container shipping was so popular last year, wind power remains top of total and single cargo volume. So far, cargoes such as extra-long, extra-heavy, blade, tower barrel and turbine are more suitable for multipurpose ships. As we continue to invest in wind power, the size and volume of cargoes may increase. Therefore, on the one hand, we need to consider whether our next-generation ships are designed to be more suitable for the size and characteristics of the next-generation wind power. On the other hand, there may be a shortage of transport capacity for these wind power cargoes. In fact, a considerable portion of general cargo ships are not suitable for transporting wind power. Current wind power is no longer traditional wind power. Offshore wind power differs from traditional onshore wind power in its growing loading capacity and component size and weight. Therefore, this is also a challenge for traditional multipurpose ships. We are also considering how to adapt to this new change and there will be further development in terms of new shipbuilding or technological means.

3. How long will the impact of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, and the COVID-19 pandemic, last on our industry? Has it caused any irreversible impact on our entire supply chain, such as international projects or procurement channels, and transportation plans? What kind of challenges will we face in these areas?
Predicting low-probability events like black swans or gray rhinos is very difficult. The impact of events such as the Russo-Ukrainian conflict, COVID-19, and sanctions on the market is very strong in the short term. Then the market will continue to adjust to find other ways to achieve equilibrium, so this impact is irreversible. However, what is irreversible is only the loss of the past results, and rigid demand will still rise. In fact, the overall transport scheme, industry chain and supply chain are politically based on the international background. When talking about various sanctions, we may have heard the concerns about China's manufacturing industry being excessively powerful or related deliberate plan, etc. But as of now, these changes take time, and whether they can be implemented is also a problem, so there are no major changes in procurement channels or transportation plans. As for dealing with future changes, you may also need to consider changes in destination ports, production areas, and shipping distances, which will be adjusted due to market economic factors, such as changes in shipping costs. If the shipping distance is longer, the shipping cost will definitely increase, and if it is shorter, the shipping cost may decrease. This is my personal opinion.

4. Regarding the G20 summit promoting digital cooperation between countries, what impact do you think it will have on our supply chain for breakbulk? And what opportunities and challenges will it bring?
Digitalization has been long-standing in this industry and is indispensable in our daily business, which is very crucial to our current operating. Many operational platforms are already digitized, for instance, recently, ChatGPT has astonished people who have tried it with the level of intelligence that can be achieved through automation. Hence, intelligence and digitalization do have a huge impact on our technical approach initially. The technical solutions will be more convenient, and then, our business solutions will be more efficient. As for the digital business model, it may still take some time because our market is ultimately based on human-to-human business. In the past, we trusted people to handle our goods, so business is still based on human trust. As for when we will have trust in machines and digital "people" like we do with WeChat Pay, I believe it still takes some time, but not far away.