• BREAKBULK & PROJECT CARGO
  • April 24-26, 2024 | Hilton New Orleans Riverside, Louisiana

Janet Nodar

Journal of Commerce by S&P Global

Senior Editor, Breakbulk, Project, and Heavy-Lift Shipping

Janet Nodar is the Journal of Commerce's senior editor for breakbulk, project, and heavy-lift shipping. Based in Mobile, Alabama, she was previously a reporter and editor for Gulf Shipper, one of four regional weekly publications that were merged into the JOC in 2008, and later for JOC’s Breakbulk magazine. From 2013-2018, she was content director for Breakbulk Events & Media, including three years with ITE Group, which acquired the Breakbulk business in 2015. She rejoined the JOC in July 2018 to rebuild the company’s breakbulk and project cargo presence and chairs the Breakbulk & Project Cargo Conference in New Orleans. Nodar holds a master’s in English/creative writing and a bachelor’s in finance from the University of South Alabama.

Sessions With Janet Nodar

Thursday, 25 April

  • 08:30am - 08:45am (CST) / 25/apr/2024 01:30 pm - 25/apr/2024 01:45 pm

    Welcome Remarks
  • 08:45am - 09:30am (CST) / 25/apr/2024 01:45 pm - 25/apr/2024 02:30 pm

    Keynote Address: Geopolitics, Fragmentation, and Managing Risk When the World's on Fire

    War risk in the Red Sea, drought-choked shipping in the Panama Canal, the unresolved Russian invasion of Ukraine, unstable geopolitical relationships: If anything, the global trade environment has become even more unstable since 2023, much less since COVID first upended all expectations in 2020. The global pivot toward decarbonization and energy security continues, shaping regulations and massive long-term infrastructure investments. At the same time, oil and gas investment remains strong and few expect this to change any time soon. Cargo owners continue to diversify sourcing, but shifting away from China is easier said than done. What should the breakbulk and project cargo logistics community expect in such a chaotic global environment? Are there bright spots? Could things actually be less chaotic than they feel? We are pleased to welcome back Laurence Allan, director of research, country risk analysis, and forecasting at S&P Global, as our opening keynote. Allan leads S&P Global’s country risk regional team for Europe/CIS and directs analysis and forecasting of political and violent risks, including geopolitical and global themes and their impacts on the business environment. Allan will delve into the implications of this changing status quo for the breakbulk industry in this timely and important keynote session.

  • 03:30pm - 04:15pm (CST) / 25/apr/2024 08:30 pm - 25/apr/2024 09:15 pm

    Strategies for Navigating Cargo Preference Regulations in the Green Energy Boom

    A welter of US government-backed funding worth billions of dollars is driving a gargantuan green energy buildout in the US. Developers; engineering, procurement, and construction companies (EPCs); original equipment manufacturers (OEMs); and all the associated project and breakbulk logistics service providers — forwarders, heavy-haul and engineered transportation providers, multipurpose and heavy-lift carriers, and many others — are eager to help build the components of this fundamental shift in energy generation. US government financing from Department of Energy programs and potentially through the Export-Import Bank of the United States may provide these projects with critical capital and favorable finance terms that aren’t available in the commercial finance market. Utilizing US government financing, however, requires compliance with laws that provide other strategic benefits to the US. This session will address some of the procurement- and transportation-related requirements that accompany US government financing for projects, with a focus on cargo preference regulations.

  • 04:15pm - 05:00pm (CST) / 25/apr/2024 09:15 pm - 25/apr/2024 10:00 pm

    Journal of Commerce Scorecard: Plotting a Path to a Breakbulk Index
    The fragmented nature of project and breakbulk cargo logistics, which includes multiple cargo streams and vessel types and is dominated by tramp trading patterns that span the globe, renders the sector opaque and difficult to grasp for even the most sophisticated industry members. Indices based on reports from vessel operators, owners, and brokers provide valuable information but are focused on a single aspect of this market, the carriers’ perspective. The Journal of Commerce is exploring ideas for a new breakbulk index, the Breakbulk Logistics Managers Index (BLMI), which would be based on anonymized reporting from the cargo owner/controller perspective and constructed similarly to the PMI indices created by S&P Global, our parent company. These track direction of change for a range of indicators key to a given sector. It will not be possible to create this index without cooperation and assistance from the breakbulk industry. In this session, senior research analyst Susan Oatway and senior editor Janet Nodar will explain the index concept, discuss it in depth with our shipper representatives, and take questions from the audience. 

Friday, 26 April

  • 09:35am - 10:20am (CST) / 26/apr/2024 02:35 pm - 26/apr/2024 03:20 pm

    Managing Project Logistics When the World's on Fire

    As soon as one challenge is addressed, five more appear — or at least that’s how it feels to project cargo shippers navigating a rapidly changing, unpredictable 2024 shipping and logistics environment. Capacity aboard multipurpose vessels and container ships are increasingly available and affordable, but procurement is “all over the place,” as one logistics manager put it, and supply chain snarls arise daily. Some suppliers affected by Russia’s 2-year-old incursion in Ukraine have simply disappeared. Equipment supply and fabrication aren't keeping pace with booming demand. Finding qualified new suppliers is tough, while established suppliers are having trouble with their own supply chains. Turmoil in the Red Sea means re-routing of vessels and time lost. “We are jumping from one problem to another, with little time for analysis,” another logistics manager said. There is little to no buffer for absorbing mistakes. Solutions must be found. This panel of experienced project cargo logistics managers will discuss strategies for finding alternative solutions and addressing stubborn problems in today’s hectic business environment.
  • 01:15pm - 01:20pm (CST) / 26/apr/2024 06:15 pm - 26/apr/2024 06:20 pm

    Closing Remarks
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