As mentioned in the first chapter of this Market Report, a total volume 4.69 billion tons of dry cargo was shipped in 2005. This consisted of 1.70 billion tons of the five major bulks (iron ore, coal, grains, bauxite/alumina and rock phosphate), 950 million tons minor dry bulks and 2.04 billion tons other dry cargoes. The latter category mainly refers to containerized cargo and other general cargo, including RoRo.

According to Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation, world production of iron ore reached 1.26 billion tons in 2005, some 4.3% higher than the year before (Table 44). The top-five countries (Brazil, Australia, China, India and Russia) produced nearly 1 billion tons, giving them a combined market share of 79%. A similar picture applies to the export side, where the top-five countries (Australia, Brazil, India, Canada and South Africa) exported 600 million tons of iron ore in 2005, for a combined market share of 84%. Table 44 also illustrates that some 57% of worldwide iron ore production was exported in 2005. Countries such as Canada, Australia, Sweden, Brazil and South Africa put most of their iron ore production on the export market. On the other hand, China, the Ukraine, the United States and Russia used most (if not all) of their iron ore production for domestic purposes. The situation in India was rather balanced, with 55% of iron ore production exported and 45% used for domestic purposes. Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation forecasts a production volume of some 1.65 billion tons of iron ore for 2010.

The World Coal Institute estimates that global production of hard coal reached 4.97 billion tons in 2005, a 7.4% increase over the year before. The top-10 hard coal producers were China (2.23bn tons), the United States (951m tons), India (398m tons), Australia (301m tons), South Africa (240m tons), Russia (222m tons), Indonesia (140m tons), Poland (98m tons), Kazakhstan (79m tons) and Colombia (61m tons). Hence, these countries accounted for 95% of worldwide hard coal production in 2005. Worldwide consumption of hard coal reached 4.99 billion tons in 2005, of which 63% in the Asia-Pacific region, 19% in North America, 7% in Europe and 6% in the Former Soviet Union. Finally, the total brown coal/lignite production is estimated at 905 million tons in 2005. Major brown coal producers include Germany, the United States, Russia, Greece and Australia.

Tables 45, 46 and 47 depict the import-export matrices for the three main dry bulk categories in 2004, the most recent years for which this detailed information is available.

Table 48 provides an overview of the main dry cargo (all categories combined) loading and unloading areas in 2005. On the loading and unloading side, developed market-economy countries accounted for more than half of total trade.

Finally, Figure 5 provides an overview of the dry bulk seaborne trade in 2006. Total trade amounted to some 2.15 billion tons, of which iron ore (31%), thermal coal (24%) and minor bulks (22%) represented the lion's share. Figure 5 also clearly illustrates the importance of the steel industry for dry bulk shipping: iron ore, coking coal and bauxite/alumina represented a combined volume of 937 million tons or nearly 44% of the total dry bulk seaborne trade in 2006. In addition, (semi-) finished steel products (which indeed classify as general cargo rather than dry bulk) represented a total volume of 218 million tons of seaborne trade in 2006.

According to the International Iron and Steel Institute, the production of crude steel reached an estimated 1.22 billion tons in 2006, an increase of some 8% compared to the year before. The top-10 crude steel producers were China (421m tons), Japan (116m tons), the United States (99m tons), Russia (71m tons), South Korea (48m tons), Germany (47m tons), India (43m tons), Ukraine (41m tons), Italy (32m tons) and Brazil (31m tons). Hence, these countries accounted for three quarters of worldwide crude steel production in 2006. Baffinland Iron Mines Corporation forecasts a further increase in world crude steel production to some 1.46 billion tons in 2010.

China is a particular case in point as far as crude steel is concerned. Until 2004 the country was a net importer of crude steel, but following massive increases in production in 2005 (+24.6%) and 2006 (+18.5%) the balance has shifted. According to French broker Barry Rogliano Salles, the gap between production and consumption of crude steel in China amounted to some 36 million tons in 2006 and it is expected to widen further to some 140 million tons in 2010. Having said this, however, Chinese consumption of crude steel is still very substantial. Of the estimated total world crude steel consumption of 1.13 billion tons in 2005, China accounted for 350m tons (31%), followed by the United States (113m tons), Japan (83m tons), South Korean (49m tons), India (41m tons) and Germany (39m tons). Hence, these six countries accounted for some 60% of world crude steel consumption in 2005.

Table 49 provides an overview of the dry bulk fleet for selected dates. At the first of July 2006 the total fleet reached 353.62m dwt, a 21.4% increase compared to the beginning of 2002. This is slightly lower than the 22.4% increase in the dwt capacity of the world merchant fleet over the period considered. As a result, the share of dry bulk vessel capacity in the world fleet marginally decreased from 36.4% at the beginning of 2002 to 36.1% at mid-2006.

Table 50 provides an overview of the dry bulk fleet divided by dwt range for 01/01/2006. As far as bulk carriers are concerned, nearly 65% of dwt capacity is provided by vessels in the 20,000-99,999 dwt range. Vessels above 100,000 dwt represent hardly 10% of the total number of ships, but they provide some 33% of the dwt capacity. Secondly, the oil/bulk/ore vessels are heavily concentrated in the 70,000-149,999 dwt range, with only two vessels being bigger than 200,000 dwt.

Finally, Table 51 provides an overview of the total dry bulk fleet (controlled and registered) by region. As this table indicates, more than 90% of the dry bulk fleet is controlled by owners in Asia/Oceania and Europe. On the other hand, just like was the case for the tanker fleet, the regional tonnage distribution according to the flag of registry shows a strong concentration on Latin and South America.

Table 52 provides a (non-exhaustive) overview of the main European shipping companies active in the dry bulk market. Just like with the liquid bulk market, the lion's share of these companies are located in Scandinavia, Germany and Greece. Moreover, quite a number of them are also active in the liquid bulk (LB) market.

Table 53 provides an overview of dry bulk traffic handled in a selection of European seaports. The table was drawn from a large Eurostat database containing about 350 ports, handling a total throughput of 977 million tons of dry bulk in 2005. However, for the present Report we have limited ourselves to those seaports which handled at least 500,000 tons of dry bulk traffic. This resulted in a total ports sample of about 230 individual ports spread across 24 different countries. Their combined dry bulk throughput amounted to 944 million tons in 2005, effectively representing 97% of the total throughput of the 350 ports in the Eurostat database.

As can be seen from Table 53, the lion's share of this volume was handled in ports in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and France. Between them, these five countries accounted for 564 million tons of dry bulk traffic in 2005. On an individual port basis, by far the biggest dry bulk port is Rotterdam, handling nearly 88 million tons of dry bulk traffic in 2005. This represents 9% of the combined dry bulk throughput of the 350 ports in the Eurostat database. Just as is the case for the liquid bulk market, Rotterdam owes its strong market position to its excellent nautical accessibility (it can receive dry bulk carriers of 300,000 dwt or more), coupled with very good links with major consumption centres in the hinterland (especially the German Ruhr area). Other major dry bulk ports, handling more than 25 million tons per year, include Hamburg (Germany), Antwerp (Belgium), Dunkirk (France), Taranto (Italy) and Amsterdam (Netherlands). Apart from these ports, 15 other ports handled between 10 and 25 million tons of dry bulk cargo in 2005. At the other end of the spectrum, more than 185 ports handled less than 1 million ton of dry bulk cargo.