An unusual sight in the early weeks of 2010 at the Port Talbot deep water anchorage in South Wales was the number of large bulk cargo vessels at anchor.

The Panamanian bulker Pacific Fortune (2004/88,292gt) had berthed at Port Talbot to discharge a cargo of iron ore from Pta da Madeira on 4 January, but conveyor belt problems at the berth delayed her discharge and she did not leave until 10 January, by when four large bulkers were in the deep water anchorage awaiting a berth.

The very large bulk carrier Royal Chorale (2006/88,491gt) arrived on 4 January after a long voyage from Roberts Bank in Canada with 175,000 tonnes of coal.

She was joined the next day by the equally large Atlantic Princess (2003/90,091gt) from Brazil, the medium-sized Searose G (1994/45,593gt) and the smaller IVS Shikra (2008/17,979gt) from Murmansk. Delray (1994/37,629gt) arrived from Redcar the next day.