FEATURE Stability during unstable times W hile political and social instability has affected several nations in regions with some of the highest levels of growth and demand for grain infrastructure upgrades, investment in the equipment to support the infrastructure development of grain port and river terminals around the world remains strong. World Grain’s annual survey of several of the world’s major ship loader and unloader manufacturers indicates that demand for ship loading and unloading equipment around the world remained steady in 2013. Manufacturers have seen a reduction in investment in Africa and the Middle East due to political instability in a few countries. However, solid sales and projects continue in the other continents. In Europe, demand for barge unloaders is strong, Neuero recently delivered two 600-tph ship unloaders for the expansion of Sodrugestvo’s complex in Kaliningrad, Russia. Photo courtesy of Neuero. 46 by Meyer Sosland Annual survey of ship unloader/ loader manufacturers indicates steady demand worldwide and customers in the Chinese and South Korean markets are looking for high unloading capacity equipment. Egyptian port operators continue to invest in ship unloaders to import grain, and Russia continues to invest in ship loaders to export grains around the world. One supplier noted that the strong fluctuating yearly yield and regional political instabilities have created a challenging October 2013 / World Grain / www.World-Grain.comhttp://www.World-Grain.com