ABSTRACT
Today, a significant part of the world trade is performed by sea, of which a large share refers to bulk cargo. Bulk cargo shipping industry makes an essential part of the international shipping with ocean-going vessels that are the most effective and sometimes the only way to transport large quantities of bulk commodities. Transportation of bulk cargo by sea can be defined as transport of homogeneous cargo with vessels following irregular schedules of sailing. This paper provides the statistical analysis of bulk carrier vessels and further forecast of supply and demand of bulk cargo by type. The analysis also includes the key factors that encourage or discourage the growth of bulk cargo industry. One of them is the fulfilment of the new prescribed rigorous regulations on reduced discharge of greenhouse gases from these types of vessels, because the shipping industry is currently the only industrial sector which is already covered by a legally binding global agreement on the reduction of CO2 emissions through technical and operational measures adopted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO).
