Dryships Inc. In All Industries

Dryships Inc.

In all industries there are a number of different factors that will play a major role in determining how competitive they are. The industry of dry bulk carriers has a number of unique challenges, as globalization has opened the flood gates on demand for dry bulk transportation services. As a result, companies such as Dryships have quickly emerged to fill this obvious void. However, to determine how strong or weak the industry is requires: that you compare the company with competitors, conditions that could help or hinder its competitive advantage and the competiveness of starting a company in the industry today. Together, these different elements will tell you the strength or weaknesses of the company in relations to its competitors, within the dry bulk transportation industry.

Which companies does Dryships compete with, and what place does it hold among its competitors?

Dryships has several different companies that it competes with to include: Eagle Bulk Shipping, Excel Maritime and Geneco Shipping & Trading. Dryships is: the largest and the strongest company among the different competitors. This can be seen with the total market cap of the common stock and the amount of revenues. Where, the company currently has a market cap of $1.44 billion and revenues of $819 million. This is in comparison to Eagle Bulk Shipping (which has a market cap of $314 million along with revenues of $192 million), Excel Maritime (which has a market cap of $452 million along with revenues of $392 million) and Geneco Shipping & Trading (which has a market cap of $630 million along with revenues of $379 million). ("Dryships," 2010)

Are there specific conditions that give Dryships an advantage, or hinder it?

What gives Dryships an advantage over the competitors are the number of different businesses that the company is involved in. Since the company was founded, they have rapidly expanded the overall number of items that they ship around the globe to include the transportation of: oil, coal, iron ore, fertilizer, grains, bauxite, steel and phosphate. They also have invested heavily in a number of deep sea exploration rigs / submarines. These two different businesses that Dryships are involved in, have allowed them to be more diversified than their competitors. This means that when the economy is expanding, the company will benefit from being involved in a number of different businesses. Then during times of economic contraction, these businesses help to protect the company, against the volatility that the industry is known for. ("Dryships," 2010)

How competitive would it be to start a company in this industry today?

The industry is very competitive, this because the spot rate is always subject to change. The spot rate is: the amount that the company and competitors are charging for transporting goods around the world. It is subject to increases or decreases in demand from businesses as: energy prices, weather conditions and the economic cycle can affect the rate. This means, that a new company starting out in the industry would face fierce competition, because of the volatility that can occur. ("Daily Market, 2010)