Freight
Overview
Oil, gas and dry cargoes are being shipped all over the world every day. With seaborne transportation comes exposure to shipping costs. Be it via direct cost or through the prices of feedstocks or finished products, a freight factor is always there. Highly sensitive to market shifts, geopolitics and regulations, freight is a complex and volatile part of every trade.
To manage this exposure, industry participants, from producers and traders to government agencies and financial institutions rely on our freight data for contracts, pricing formulas, analytics and arbitrage tracking.
Argus Freight consists of three dedicated services, covering trade flows for tankers, dry bulk and gas markets. Each service provides daily freight indexes, industry-specific news, market analysis and exclusive content. This enables you to connect the dots between commodity prices and shipping costs, giving you a complete view of the supply chain.
Latest freight news
To unearth the true insights needed to make confident decisions, you need access to data, price assessments and analytical tools to manage freight risks.
Indonesia’s PIS seeks MR vessels to ship oil products
Indonesia’s PIS seeks MR vessels to ship oil products
Singapore, 6 May (Argus) — Indonesia's Pertamina International Shipping (PIS) is seeking two Medium Range (MR) vessels to ship clean oil products to Sulawesi and Central Java provinces for early-May loading. PIS — a wholly-owned subsidiary of Indonesian state-owned refiner Pertamina — has issued two spot tenders. The shipments can have a maximum unavoidable transportation loss of up to 0.07pc, according to the tenders. A 200,000 bl shipment will load either from Singapore or Malaysia's Tanjung Bin, Tanjung Langsat or Pengerang during 10-11 May, before heading to two discharge ports in Indonesia's Baubau and Semarang. The tender closed at 10am Jakarta time (3am GMT) on 6 May. The firm issued another tender that closed at 2pm Jakarta time on 3 May. The 300,000 bl shipment will load from the same potential ports during 8-9 May, before heading to Indonesia's Semarang. PIS booked the 2021-built, 34,752 deadweight tonne Bowmore at $800,000 for a 200,000 bl shipment from Singapore to two discharge ports in Indonesia's Bau Bau and Wayame with loading from 17 April, through a tender that closed on 9 April . By Sean Zhuang Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
First TMX cargo booked on Aframax to China
First TMX cargo booked on Aframax to China
Houston, 30 April (Argus) — The first cargo shipped on the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) crude pipeline is scheduled to load on an Aframax in Vancouver, British Columbia, beginning 18 May for June delivery in China, according to sources with knowledge of the transaction. Suncor provisionally booked the Aframax Dubai Angel for a Vancouver-China voyage at $3.5mn lumpsum, equivalent to $6.39/bl for Access Western Blend, market participants said. In March, China's state-run Sinochem purchased the first TMX cargo — 550,000 bl of Canadian Access Western Blend — for June delivery. The shipping fixture would mark the first Vancouver-China crude delivery since May 2023, according to Vortexa, a possible indicator of steady Asia-Pacific demand to come with increased maritime access for Canadian oil producers. China already receives heavy sour Canadian crude re-exported from the US Gulf coast, with about 110,000 b/d arriving in 2023, Vortexa data show. The new 590,000 b/d pipeline begins commercial service on 1 May, with three Aframax-capable berths at Vancouver's Westridge Marine Terminal, up from one previously. An oversupply of Aframax crude tankers on the west coast of the Americas in anticipation of TMX-driven demand pressured Vancouver-loading rates to six-month lows on 19 April , according to Argus data, but market participants expect demand to increase beginning in the second half of May. Three regulatory approvals remained under assessment by the Canada Energy Regulator (CER) on 30 April. The applications concern piping, valves and other components at two pipeline inspection device traps and the mainline pipe between the two traps. The traps were added for safety assurance when the operator was allowed by CER to use a smaller diameter pipe as part of the Mountain 3 deviation. By Tray Swanson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Rio Tinto, BHP WA iron ore exports up
Rio Tinto, BHP WA iron ore exports up
London, 30 April (Argus) — Iron ore shipments from Western Australia's (WA) four largest producers edged higher in the week to 27 April on the back of higher volumes exported by Rio Tinto and BHP. The four largest Pilbara iron ore producers — BHP, Fortescue, Rio Tinto and Roy Hill — loaded vessels with a combined capacity of 18.01mn dwt, up from 17.92mn dwt in the week to 20 April. The dwt capacity is the maximum capacity of a vessel and overestimates actual shipments by about 5pc. Rio Tinto's shipments reached 6.14mn dwt, from 5.81mn dwt the previous week, as the company is still recovering from the fallout of tropical Cyclone Olga. This was still less than the 2024 average so far of 6.44mn dwt. BHP's volumes ticked up to 6.19mn dwt, from 6.13mn dwt the previous week. Fortescue's iron ore loadings dropped in the week to 27 April to 4.25mn dwt, from the previous week's 4.51mn dwt, but still well above the rolling average of 3.70mn dwt. Roy Hill's exports ticked down too, but remain above the rolling average of 1.27mn dwt. The company loaded vessels with 1.42mn dwt, down from 1.45mn dwt. Overall, iron ore shipments from WA increased on the year to 69.54mn dwt on 1-28 April, compared with 65.59mn dwt in the same period year ago, according to provisional shipping data. Shipments to China rose to 57.63mn dwt, from 53.69mn dwt, across the same timeframe. By Andrey Telegin Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Baltimore to temporarily open 4th shipping channel
Baltimore to temporarily open 4th shipping channel
Cheyenne, 24 April (Argus) — The Port of Baltimore is preparing to open another, deeper temporary shipping channel this week so at least some of the vessels that have been stranded at the port can depart. The new 35-ft deep Fort McHenry Limited Access Channel is scheduled to be open to commercially essential vessels from 25 April until 6am ET on 29 April or 30 April "if weather adversely impacts vessel transits," according to a US Coast Guard Marine Safety Information Bulletin. The channel will then be closed again until 10 May. The channel also will have a 300-ft horizontal clearance and 214-ft vertical clearance. This will be the fourth and largest channel opened since the 26 March collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. The Unified Command has said that the new limited access channel should allow passage of about 75pc of the types of vessels that typically move through the waterway. Vessels that have greater than 60,000 long tons (60,963 metric tonnes) of displacement will likely not be able to move through the channel and those between 50,000-60,000 long tons of displacement "will be closely evaluated" for transit. There were seven vessels blocked from exiting the port as of 27 March, including three dry bulk carriers, one vehicle carrier and one tanker, according to the US Department of Transportation. Two of the bulk carriers at berth in Baltimore are Kamsarmax-sized coal vessels, data from analytics firm Kpler show. The US Army Corps of Engineers still expects to reopen the Port of Baltimore's permanent 700-foot wide, 50-foot deep channel by the end of May. The Key Bridge collapsed into the water late last month when the 116,851dwt container ship Dali lost power and crashed into a bridge support column. Salvage teams have been working to remove debris from the water and containers from the ship in order to clear the main channel. By Courtney Schlisserman Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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