Bulk Terminals Market

Bulk Terminals Market Analysis - Optimizing Commodity Logistics and Transport

Dynamic markets that are fueling the demand for raw materials require operators and owners to complement effectiveness and flexibility of their high-investment bulk assets. Advanced supply chains accent for sustainable incursion of digital ecosystem and automation of manufacturing methods. 

Bulk terminals play instrumental role in industrial infrastructure, wherein they ensure safe and efficient movement of critical resources.

In certain respects, bulk terminals maintain localized functions, with conditions in domestic market affecting the performance of every property. That said, from a macro-level viewpoint, global factors, especially cash flows and commodity price dynamics, are influencing global bulk terminals market.

Bulk terminals serve myriads of purposes such as trading platform, logistics function, and strategic storage. However, operational requirements of commercial clients usually trigger industrial operators to emphasize on trading and logistics functions.

In light of these trends, the global bulk terminals market is anticipated to grow at stable CAGR over forecast period, 2020-2030.

Bulk Terminals Market Trends – Dry Bulk Terminals to Lose Share to Liquid Bulk Variants

Dry bulk terminals continue to account for leading share of overall market value, with iron ore and coal majorly representing the bulk category. However, FMI finds that dry bulk terminals are likely to fade in coming years as prominent coal-consuming countries – China, Japan, and the US - are embracing sustainability, thus, limiting coal consumption.

Further, recent estimates suggest that global demand for coal expected to rise by merely 0.8% by 2040, as reimagining of industries and introduction of stringent environmental norms have influenced countries to turn to cleaner and more centralized usage of coal.

On the other hand, adoption of liquid bulk terminals is expected to rise at greater CAGR through 2030. The COVID-19 pandemic is likely to substantially transform energy fuel demand and supply patterns. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reveals that worldwide consumption of petroleum and liquids fuel averaged 94.4 million barrels per day (b/d) during Q1 2020, indicating decline of 5.6 million b/d versus Q1 2019.

Furthermore, the EIA anticipates that worldwide demand for petroleum and liquid fuels will drop by 5.2 million b/d in 2020 before rising by 6.4 million b/d in 2021. This short-term dip in liquids fuel and petroleum demand further translates into worldwide oil inventory build-up of 1.6 billion barrels in 2020.

Such expected rise in demand for petroleum products and crude oil is influencing market players to center their focus on liquid bulk terminals.

Bulk Terminals Market Regional Analysis – All Eyes on APEJ and North America

Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ) would remain in the vanguard of global bulk terminals market, followed by North America. National oil firms in China house largest number of tank terminal operators across the world. On the other, the US has significant number of midstream runners that, collectively, compete with China in terms of tank capacity.

The EIA projects that consumption of liquid fuels in the US averaged 16.2 million b/d during Q2s 2020, down by 4.1 million b/d (almost 20%) from same quarter in 2019. The drop indicates travel bans and decreased economic operations associated with COVID-19 mitigation measures. Further, the EIA estimates that oil consumption in the US will rise through 2021.

Middle East & Africa (MEA) is seeing growing trend of development of inland bulk terminals - dry ports - to decongest port traffic and thus, save storage expenses.

Development of port infrastructure in MEA is largely propelled by commodity market - export of bulk mineral resources and import of containerized products. This disparity exists due to limited processing of raw materials in the region.

Bulk terminal capacity is swelling, reflecting conducive business ecosystem, particularly in the European Union (EU), China, the US, and the MEA. Of the global bulk terminal expansions, China and Houston, Texas (the US) represent the largest market, while MEA housing highest number of upcoming bulk terminals.

Bulk Terminals Market Players – Investments and Partnerships to Become Key Priority of Manufacturers

The global bulk terminals market is fragmented with presence of several large- and medium-scale players in competition landscape. Majority of players are conspicuous investments and strategic agreements in order to capture value at stake. For instance,

• Regulatory board of APM Terminals has granted approval to its expansion project that incorporates enhancing infrastructure for managing larger vessels and increasing container capacity to 1.6 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs).
• China Merchants Port Holdings Co. Ltd. (CMPort ) has collaborated with CMA CGM to acquire 10 port terminals to Terminal Link - joint venture of the two firms. Further, CMPort organized virtual agreement ceremony with Thessaloniki Port Authority S.A. (ThPA) in Greece, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong and inked two agreements on strategic collaboration and port information system.
• Host Davant – subdivision of T. Parker Host - has taken over United Bulk Terminals Davant facility of Marquard & Bahls.

Bulk Terminals Market Future Outlook – Automation to Reshape On-site Operations

Management of bulk terminals requires immense skills and plentiful of resources in a bid to manage to berth of vessels of various sizes, accurate scheduling, and fast loading and unloading of bulk material, to name a few. Terminal automation is emerging as key trend in liquid bulk terminals as it deals with transportation of different grade liquid bulks, high-risk settings, delivering bulks in small-sized vessels in accurate amount, and maintaining optimum safety and security during operations.

Storage and management of different sorts of bulks as per their quality, grade, customer, and delivery time in tandem with proper safety is huge challenge associated with bulk terminal management. In an effort to address these challenges and scale down operations expenses and time, numerous bulk terminal operators are embracing automation in their units.

Various firms such as Central Systems & Automation Ltd., DBIS (TAREX corp.), CyberLogitec, Solvo Ltd., and TBA are offering integrated software and hardware solutions for bulk terminal automation.

Bulk terminal automation incorporates advanced integration of software and mechanical equipment that work on command and feedback system in a bid to perform assigned tasks. In addition, automatic scheduling, proper inventory management, safety features, and record keeping are among other key aspects of bulk terminal automation systems.

• Base year considered - 2019
• Historical Period- 2015 - 2019
• Forecast period - 2020 - 2030
• Market Value in 2019 -
• Segments covered - Bulk type, and region
• Regions Covered - North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ), Japan, and Middle East & Africa (MEA)
• Key Companies-China Merchants Port Holdings Co. Ltd., DaLian Port (PDA) Company Limited, Thessaloniki Port Authority SA., Global Ports Investments PLC., Ports America, Inc. APM Terminals, Euroports Holdings S.à.r.l., Puerto Ventanas S.A., HES International B.V., Yilport Holding Inc, DP World Ltd., Noatum Ports, S.L.U., and Ultramar Group.

Key Questions Answered in the Report:

1. Which printing technology will capture major share in bulk terminals market globally and why?
2. What are the factors propelling the global bulk terminals market?
3. What will be the value size of bulk terminals market by 2020?
4. Who are the leading manufacturers in the bulk terminals market?
5. Which trends and innovations are expected to shape the global bulk terminals in coming years?

General FAQs:

1. Can I receive market report created as per particular region (s)?

Yes, we provide market size and growth rate (both in terms of value and volume) of any year within the specified historic and projection timeframe

Apart from the market players covered in the report, we offer insights about other players that are associated with the global bulk terminals market.

Can we get market size and growth rate of any year?

Although the market report is created as per global trends and industry dynamics, our analysts can also offer reports for specific regions or countries according to your needs.

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Global bulk terminals market segmentation

By Bulk Type

• Dry Bulk
• Grain
• Coal
• Iron Ore
• Others
• Liquid Bulk
• Oil
• Gas

By Region

• North America
• Latin America
• Western Europe
• Eastern Europe
• Asia Pacific excluding Japan (APEJ)
• Japan
• Middle East & Africa (MEA)