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THOUGHT LEADER
IMPACT OF RUSSIA’S INVASION
The disruption from the Russian invasion of Ukraine on metals supply is a less-than-welcome obstacle for the energy transition, said Robert Berg, market intelligence and finance manager at Wallenius Wilhelmsen.
“Global exports of mining machines shot up, although it could help accelerate the push for lowcarbon alternatives, for example through the EU’s highly ambitious RePowerEU plan.
“In terms of mining machinery, we expect low-emission equipment to play an increasingly important role, albeit gradually. There are lots of exciting developments in this area at the moment, but we do not expect this to be a material factor in terms of demand until the back half of this decade.”
Berg said 2021 represented yet another all-time high in demand for coal, driven by China, but also by a strong rebound in demand in the U.S. and the EU due to the high electricity prices.
“While coal’s share of the global power mix is down from the peak, alternative energy sources are just not able to keep up with the strong growth in energy demand. One would think that the pledges to reach net zero emissions should have strong implications for coal (including China), but for now the latest forecast from the IEA puts demand on track for a continued climb through 2024. And with Europe now scrambling to find alternative sources to Russia, surging prices make further investments for coal miners increasingly attractive – despite the obvious uncertainty surrounding the longerterm demand outlook – as illustrated by the recent capacity expansions approved in China.”
Integral Chile, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, has five branch offices/sites in Chile and is looking to open more. “For this year, we are evaluating local expansion in some locations within Chile and one of them is precisely to foster miningrelated projects and cargo,” Izquierdo said. “This means a significant investment in facilities, personnel, vehicles and other equipment. Also, even though we already belong to several freight forwarder networks, we are investing in some more memberships in 2022 and at least one of them is exclusively project cargo oriented.”
As to expectations for the coming years, WW’s Berg said: “Trying to say something about the more distant future is a challenge at the best of times and now perhaps more so than ever with the world throwing one exogenous shock after another at us.
“Still, we certainly believe that the environmental agenda will be a strong driver for the mining industry going forward. Not only on the
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