OREANDA-NEWS. July 19, 2011. Market players said that Russia's largest European coal loading hub has loaded its first Capsize vessel in eleven years amid efforts to compete more actively with other European ports.

Murmansk Port Authority said in a note that the port, which is located in the northwest of the country, loaded the Britannia G with around 110,000 tonnes of coal between July 4th 2011 and July 8th 2011 and the cargo is earmarked for the French port of Dunkirk.

One Rotterdam port source said that "If they do Capes then, of course, this is a bit dangerous for us." It added that the length of time Murmansk took to load the vessel was unlikely to prove competitive.

He said that "In the Port of Rotterdam, you could do many more Capes simultaneously. For a harbor, it is very [impressive] to say we have Capsize. But, although this may to some extent simply be an exercise in port propaganda, with the Britannia G’s draft of 7.6 meters and length of 250m making it little more than a glorified Panamax vessel, players also noted some logistical benefits in loading larger vessels for the comparatively short haul voyage.

One London based coal broker said that "Russian coal doesn’t price into Europe at the moment so it is likely to be a European utility. I guess there are slightly better economics using a Cape as opposed to the smaller Panamax size. It probably works if you are a utility, as you can claim back the value through transfer pricing to plants."

Capsize vessels are more than 100,000 deadweight tonnes and largely operate on long haul coal and iron ore trade routes. Panamax vessels vary between 60,000 DWT to 100,000 DWT. Murmansk has a capacity of 12 million tonnes per annum. The port loaded a 144,000 tonnes vessel with coal in 2000.