Finnish Versowood began break-bulk shipping of softwood timber to China at the beginning of May. According to Versowood’s corporate newspaper published at the end of June, roughly 27,000 m³ have been loaded into the “Ultra Tatio”, put into service by Danish Ultrabulk in 2016, at the Finnish port of Loviisa near Helsinki.
The ports of destination in China were Nansha near Guangzhou in southern China on 26 June and Taicang near Shanghai on 29 June. As the softwood timber did not fully utilise the 45,000 m³ capacity of the ship, other freight was taken on board at the Finnish port of Kotka. Depending on how the first break-bulk shipment goes, Versowood is currently planning to perform the next break-bulk shipment to China in August.
The break-bulk shipment to China was Versowood’s response to the development in container freight rates. As shipping lines had raised freight rates for traffic from Europe to Asia from the fourth quarter of 2016, followed by a quick succession of price increases and a shortage of freight space from the end of February, Versowood reduced its container shipments to China. Versowood’s timber exports by container are not being replaced by break bulk, however, only supplemented.