Houston show vibe: Bulk optimism

Some 5,650 attendees, 439 shippers and 350-plus exhibitors combined to make Breakbulk Americas 2024 a successful event. The vibe among attendees and exhibitors was upbeat, despite the fact that the national presidential election was just three weeks from being decided.

The convention floor was decidedly busy from the opening reception on Tuesday evening until things wrapped up on Thursday afternoon. The presentations this year were also well-attended with several engaging topics, speakers and panelists.

“Regarding Breakbulk Americas, I noticed a strong turnout and a generally positive vibe among attendees,” said Andrew Wright, who handles business development for Alatas Americas. “Many were optimistic about the future of the specialized transport and breakbulk market, with discussions highlighting a lot of potential opportunities ahead. Looking forward, I think we can expect continued growth driven by infrastructure projects and an emphasis on efficiency. While there are some challenges, the overall feeling was one of resilience and readiness to adapt.”

More than 5,600 people attended Breakbulk from some 61 countries.

Breakbulk is also a great way to connect with customers and vendors, and in the case of the Specialized Carriers and Rigging Association, (SC&RA) its members.

Doug Filos, Director, BOSS Heavy Haul, said that Breakbulk Americas 2024 was exceptionally well-attended, and that it felt like a noticeable increase in both size and energy compared to recent years.

“Our Bennett booth experienced strong traffic, allowing us to connect with numerous clients and a broad range of industry professionals,” he said. “It provided an excellent platform for networking, strengthening relationships and showcasing our expertise.”

Filos said that the overall vibe was “decidedly optimistic.”

“The trucking, logistics, heavy haul and specialized transport sectors are experiencing high demand across multiple industries, including oil and gas, solar energy, data centers and power generation,” he said. “This sustained activity is driving confidence, as companies continue to seek logistics solutions to move complex and oversized loads efficiently. Despite challenges in the broader economy, the need for specialized transport services remains robust.”

And despite potential uncertainties surrounding the upcoming election, Filos said the market is thriving, with businesses actively seeking transportation solutions.

“The demand for capacity remains strong, and the variety of industries requiring support is expanding,” he said. “This diversity helps the market stay resilient, ensuring ongoing opportunities for companies like Bennett, BOSS Crane & Rigging and BOSS Heavy Haul to meet evolving logistics needs.”

Mammoet Americas has long had a strong presence at Breakbulk. Sam Quisenberry, Mammoet’s director of business development, said he thought the quality of the attendees was as good as there ever had been in the past.

“It seemed to me that the optimism for upcoming projects was robust with many new projects on the forefront, however there was a bit of skepticism on how the results of the upcoming presidential election would affect the progress and how many of these projects would actually go forward,” he said. “As we all know the overall market is transitioning to clean fuels all over the world which is a good thing. There are projects that I heard about at the convention, that are being built in other parts of the world, that are looking at transitioning from coal to cleaner fuels. There was good discussion overall on markets that potentially looked bleak due to being unsustainable in some parts of the world while flourishing in others. Overall, I was really happy with the event and conversations had.”

Charlie Reilly, operations manager for Palco Transportation, agreed the overall vibe in the heavy haul sector is “pretty optimistic.”

Mammoet’s Sam Quisenberry said there was a robust optimism with new projects on the forefront.

“I didn’t hear really any negative talk about the current economy from a transportation perspective, and I have actually seen a significant increase in RFQ’s in my inbox compared to last year’s show,” he said. “Even the ones I did receive in 2023 were planning three to four quarters out, where the ones I am receiving now are for this quarter and Q1 and Q2 2025.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Bennett International showcased its race car and NASCAR Xfinity driver Austin Hill.

Reilly said there is a huge push in certain sectors of the industry, such as renewable energy and data centers.

“That has a strong, long-term outlook for our industry,” he said. “I believe the work is abundant and specialized carriers that find their place within the market can continue to have a strong positive outlook for the future.”

SC&RA Membership Director Jason Bell said that for SC&RA, Breakbulk is a “fantastic” place to connect in person with many of the association’s members – those exhibiting and those walking the tradeshow floor.

“An SC&RA member company can gain so much by grouping SC&RA’s February Specialized Transportation Symposium and Breakbulk Americas in October,” he said. “At our Symposium you walk away with such a tremendous amount of knowledge and best practices in operations, safety and permitting, and while at Breakbulk you get to showcase that training and expertise to your potential clients. It’s a win-win for all involved.”

Bell said that he heard optimism at the show, specifically that post-election business will continue to pick up and continue to grow.

“After all, the loads aren’t getting any smaller, the timelines are only getting shorter, and the client expectations are only growing for our members across the world,” he said. “Many members expressed their desires for more Asset Based OS/OW companies to come to the table to improve their companies – not only operationally, but for safety, and insurance reasons as well. Members understand that an OS/OW accident (or the public’s misconceptions of what an OS/OW load is) harms everyone. Especially when it comes to expediting of harmonized permitting but lowering insurance cost and risks.”

The Bay Crane Group of Companies were exhibitors at Breakbulk. Connecting to customers was a priority.

“Breakbulk Americas is always a great event for us to connect with so many of our customers, 2024 was an outstanding turnout and the workload for project cargo for 2025 is outstanding with many challenging and exciting projects planned,” said Valerio Colonna, head of project sales, Bay Crane Companies.

The panel session titled, A New Ecosystem of Project Opportunity, addressed the “raft of new cargo opportunities related to big tech, semiconductor manufacturing and small modular reactors (SMRs).

“Just a few years ago, the capex expenditure for markets like semiconductors, data centers and AV batteries was about US $100 billion,” said Kristin Homsi, manager of supply chain, manufacturing and technology at Bechtel Corporation. “That same projection in a number of years is going to be up to US $400 billion – that’s just an incredible growth in a very short period of time. Depending on what you’re reading, these numbers are going to vary, but the one thing that is consistently the same is that these semiconductor fabs are growing. They’re large, and in some cases, the first of a kind.”

Such demand also throws up challenges, said Homsi. “If you’re looking at a green fab semiconductor plant, and you’re talking about concrete, you’re looking at the same – or more – concrete that you would have in a nuclear power plant. If you’re talking about pipe, we are well over a million feet of pipe in some cases.

A panel of logistics professionals shared their experience and advice in terms of maintaining supply chain flexibility. Navigating Project Logistics Volatility.

“Following the pandemic, there have been a whole series of issues, from geopolitical, economic, natural disasters and other kinds of disruptions that really continue to buffet the supply chain – and the operators here in this room continue to perform under uncertain circumstances,” said panelist Paul Baumer, deputy director for infrastructure development (Acting) at the Office of Multimodal Freight Infrastructure and Policy, U.S. Department of Transportation.

A “Women in Breakbulk” panel shared strategies for turning adversity into opportunity. Forging relationships is a crucial resource.

Emily Carruth, business development manager at Gebrüder Weiss, said, “I decided that I needed to network across all industries, and I’m glad that I did that because there was a time in my industry where our market took a dip, and we needed to diversify. Because I had been networking and building those relationships in other industries, I was able to pivot a lot more easily and begin selling into other markets.”

Other topics addressed were power hungry projects, U.S. nuclear energy expansion, AI and the art of transport and the booming energy market. Other speakers included Paul Mosley, president of the International Longshoremen’s Association; Agustin Harriague, vice president of logistics at Mitsubishi Power Americas and Jack Edlow, president of Edlow International Company, to name a few.

The SC&RA Specialized Transportation Symposium will be held February 18-20, 2025 in Charlotte, NC. Breakbulk Americas will return next year to Houston on September 30- October 2, 2025.