Project Cargo Weekly: No slave to advertisers

The moment when he was asked to place an advert in return for some editorial by a heavylift title set project cargo veteran Bo Drewsen on a new course. Sick and tired of this age-old ‘advertorial’ approach to maritime media, Drewsen has taken matters into his own hands, launching a newsletter, Project Cargo Weekly that is already hitting the inboxes of more than 28,000 people.

Drewsen, who is also chairman of CLC Projects, an association for small and medium sized project freight forwarders, has a 40-year background in the sector having worked for Penta Shipping and Martin Bencher in the past.

“I took the decision to ensure that there is an online newsletter out there that is not a slave of advertisers or advertorials but is free of such interests and will report on everything and everyone related to shipping freely,” Drewsen, a Swedish national, explains of his newsletter, which launched last October. “As the newsletter Project Cargo Weekly is being built up it will automatically arouse more interest from readers due to its factual, neutral and clear reporting of shipping news and intelligence that is really useful straight away,” he maintains.

On the markets, Drewsen reckons the project cargo sector will show signs of recovery in 2017. Geographic areas to watch include China, India, West Africa and Argentina, the heavylift veteran predicts.

“Oil and gas prices are still down and this of course hampers any immediate recovery, however there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel except for many shipowners that may need to face the fact that they have to consolidate their fleets,” Drewsen concludes.