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

Susan Oatway FICS

S&P Global

Research Analyst-Breakbulk and Project Shipping, Journal of Commerce

Susan is a highly experienced research analyst who, in January 2023, joined the Journal of Commerce at S&P Global Inc as a research analyst for multipurpose and project shipping. Her focus is on the multipurpose, breakbulk, project cargo, and related shipping markets, including roll-on, roll-off and refrigerated shipping.

Susan Oatway is a highly experienced consultant who is fully conversant with all aspects of the multipurpose and dry bulk shipping market. For almost 20 years she was the principal author of Drewry’s Multipurpose and Heavy Lift publications. She has extensive consultancy experience working for carriers/shipping lines, financial intermediaries and other key industry stakeholders.

She is regularly asked to share her market knowledge and insights at leading industry conferences and lectures on dry bulk chartering for the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers (ICS). She was the first female International Chairman at the ICS from 2019 to 2021 and remains a Fellow of the Institute.

Sessions With Susan Oatway FICS

Wednesday, 19 April

  • 03:30pm - 05:30pm (CST) / 19/apr/2023 08:30 pm - 19/apr/2023 10:30 pm

    Shipper Roundtable - BY INVITATION ONLY FOR SHIPPERS (Only cargo owners are eligible to attend.)

    This exclusive, shipper-only discussion facilitated by JOC Senior Editor Janet Nodar will bring together breakbulk and project cargo shippers in an off-the-record meeting to exchange ideas and potential solutions to the numerous challenges confronting stakeholders in the North American supply chain, while learning what they expect to learn from the conference sessions and panelists over the coming two days. BY INVITATION ONLY FOR SHIPPERS (Only cargo owners are eligible to attend.)

Thursday, 20 April

  • 09:30am - 10:00am (CST) / 20/apr/2023 02:30 pm - 20/apr/2023 03:00 pm

    Spillover No More: What Today's Container Shipping Market Means for Breakbulk Logistics

    Does the dramatic collapse in container spot rates during the second half of 2022 signal a return to the pre-pandemic status quo, or has the market shifted in more fundamental ways? Carriers’ claims that operating costs are up and must be passed on to customers will trigger déjà vu on the shipper side, even as these shippers used the second half of last year to press for revisions to contracts negotiated during a much tighter market. Flush with pandemic market cash, carriers have diversified into a range of logistics services and other businesses and, at least in the run-up to the pandemic, became skillful at managing capacity — but they still must earn their living moving cargo. What can shippers expect as 2023 unfolds and, most importantly for breakbulk shippers, what are the implications for a multipurpose sector that flourished — after a painful, decade-plus recession — in the pandemic spillover market? Have all spillover cargoes by this point returned to container ships, or are shippers continuing to diversify their shipping modes as a longer-term risk-management strategy? Will cargo-hungry container carriers chase breakbulk cargoes even more aggressively? Peter Tirschwell, vice president of S&P Global Market Intelligence, will share his container market perspective and outlook before being joined by Journal of Commerce research analyst Susan Oatway to discuss the likely knock-on effects that the much-larger container market may have in store for the multipurpose side.

  • 03:30pm - 04:15pm (CST) / 20/apr/2023 08:30 pm - 20/apr/2023 09:15 pm

    Brownwater and Heavy Transport: Moving OOG Cargo by Barge and Road

    Low water, high water, weight restrictions, scarce labor, and scarce equipment all serve to complicate the seemingly straightforward movement of out-of-gauge and breakbulk cargo by barge in the US. Following several seasons of dangerously high water on the lower Mississippi, water at once-in-a-century lows stymied cargo movement on the river system for weeks in late 2022, while the labor shortages triggered by the pandemic market are a problem with no end in sight. The hand-off from barge to heavy-haul or specialized transportation also must be managed, often at remote sites with little or no infrastructure in place. Transportation delays and complications caused by these factors increase risks for shippers who must, in many cases, meet demanding project schedules or face costly penalties. In addition, brownwater service providers, like their bluewater brethren, must incorporate increasingly stringent emissions control and decarbonization requirements into their operations. In this roundtable session, service providers and cargo shippers will delve into the problems of OOG river transportation in the US.

Friday, 21 April

  • 09:45am - 10:30am (CST) / 21/apr/2023 02:45 pm - 21/apr/2023 03:30 pm

    Deciphering the Multipurpose Market: Analysts and Shippers Assess the Indicators

    What lies ahead for the multipurpose vessel sector — and how do we know this? Given the complexity of the MPV market, no single index can supply all the answers that shippers and logistics service providers would like to have. What indicators beyond those derived from the MPV fleet are the most useful, and how do shippers and logistics transportation providers use them? What more might be provided or created? In this session, leading industry analysts will share their outlooks for the MPV market and discuss how these forecasts are produced and what else might be possible. 
  • 02:00pm - 02:45pm (CST) / 21/apr/2023 07:00 pm - 21/apr/2023 07:45 pm

    Ports, Terminals, and Breakbulk: Realigned Relationships in a Decarbonizing World

    A new era of supply chain complexities and increasingly competitive cargo markets is pressuring ports and terminals like never before. How best can ports, terminals, carriers, and shippers work together to address congestion, port choice, decarbonization, green fuels, labor, and other issues affecting performance and efficiency — or the lack thereof? The pandemic market shocked shippers and logistics service providers by forcing them to see how vulnerable they are to supply chain snarls. What’s changed now that the market is turning, and what behaviors and choices are reverting to old norms and patterns? How do ports and terminals improve productivity, address users’ needs, make better use of existing assets, and gear up for the responsibilities that will increasingly come with facilitating decarbonization? This roundtable discussion will bring together port users and service providers to examine these complex questions.