Australia’s cotton industry is about to experience an explosion of its past, with more than 100,000 bales to be exported to Turkey next month by bulk shipment.
Like most goods in the world that are exported by sea, cotton is usually placed inside shipping containers.
But the global shortage of containers and the general problems surrounding shipping logistics have led exporters to look for alternatives.
“We have a record cotton harvest, we have the market clamoring for our high quality cotton, so Australian cotton shippers have been looking for other ways to bring our harvest to market,” said Adam Kay, CEO of Cotton Australia. dit.
“One of the options that will be implemented is the use of break bulk, so that the bales are loaded from the dock, directly into the hold of a ship, which is how cotton is exported.”
Like the vast majority of commodities, Australian cotton is normally exported by sea in shipping containers. (Reuters: Amir Cohen)
Return to the future
Australia’s first shipment of crumbling cotton came more than 100 years ago.
The Queensland bullets were loaded on the SS Westmorland, bound for England in July 1921.
Broken bulk shipping:
- Australia’s cotton industry is preparing to re-use bulk transport for exports
- It is about transporting goods separately, rather than sending them in a container
- Australia’s first crumbled cotton was exported in this way in 1921
“It is interesting to look at those old historical photos from 1921 of the first one [cotton] submissions and thinking, “Wow, there’s a bit of a return to the future in this,” Kay said.
“So the company does that [shipment to Turkey] is using a hospital-grade vessel, which has been used in the past for wood pulp.
“It’s a ship with a gantry-type crane system that can lift these cotton bales off the dock and into the hold in an efficient way and in a way that doesn’t damage the cotton.”
Kay said the industry could not remember the last time the shipping method was used for cotton.
Cotton is unloaded in a new gin in Brisbane in 1921. (Supplied by: Cotton Australia)
Expanding markets
A couple of years ago, China was buying about 70 per cent of Australia’s cotton crop.
Then, in October 2020, the Chinese government began telling factories to stop buying Australian cotton or risk reducing their quotas.
Kay said the industry had been working hard to find new markets and expand existing markets, such as Turkey.
“Turkey is occupying about 8 to 10 percent of our market right now,” he said.
“I think it was hard for them to bring ships and containers to the Mediterranean and that’s why [break bulk] the option is now being explored “.
Australia is on track to produce a record 5.5 million bullets this year.
Like most commodities, the price of cotton has dropped in recent weeks and is currently valued at around $ 770 a bullet.
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Posted 1 hour ago 1 hour Sat. June 25, 2022 at 3:54 AM, last updated 1 h 1 hours agoDiss. June 25, 2022 at 3:59 p.m.