The US will impose a 35pc tariff on all imports from Canada effective on 1 August, President Donald Trump said in a 10 July letter to Canadian prime minister Mark Carney. The letter, which Trump posted on social media, noted that Canada previously planned retaliatory tariffs in response to the US' first tariff threats in the spring. He repeated his earliest justification for the tariffs — the illegal smuggling of fentanyl into the US from Canada — and said he would consider "an adjustment" to the tariffs if Canada worked with him to stop that flow.
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Hormuz traffic constrained despite Oman-Iran talks
Hormuz traffic constrained despite Oman-Iran talks
New York, 27 August (Argus) — Commercial vessel traffic through the strait of Hormuz remained severely constrained on 26 August with Iran continuing to attack vessels in the waterway while joint Iranian-Omani talks on managing ship traffic continue. A total of 12 vessels transited through the strait of Hormuz on 26 August, split between seven outbound transits — including five tankers — and five inbound transits, including two tankers, according to data from maritime security firm Windward. The transits occurred mostly on the northern Iranian-preferred lane. This puts vessel traffic through the strait just under 10pc of the normal traffic levels prior to the 28 February US-Israel attack on Iran that prompted Iran to declare the waterway closed. Iran attacked Kuwait's state-owned oil products tanker the Al Salam II on 26 August while it was attempting to exit the strait of Hormuz, data from the UK Maritime Trade Organization (UKMTO) shows, likely through the US-assisted southern traffic lane. Two Indian-flagged cargo vessels exited the strait on the southern lane, and the tanker Sela exited through an unconfirmed lane, with all remaining transits taking place on the northern lane. Windward tracked a US Treasury-sanctioned medium range product tanker crossing the strait of Hormuz outbound, loaded with an estimated 185,000 bl of Iranian fuel oil, Kpler data shows, with the vessel signaling Oman as its next destination. The tanker is flying a false Nicaraguan flag, data from the International Maritime Organization shows, which is illegal under international law. Data from vessel information firm TankerTrackers.com shows that around 3.7mn b/d have been getting through the strait of Hormuz on average over the last seven days, while data from vessel tracking firm Vortexa places the monthly average for August for the strait around 3.5mn b/d — both significantly lower than the 10mn b/d claimed by US officials . Prior to the joint US-Israeli attacks on Iran which prompted Iran to declare the strait of Hormuz closed, around 23mn b/d of crude, refined products and natural gas flowed through the narrow waterway on average, data from Vortexa show. The US Central Command, which oversees US forces in the Middle East, claimed in a UKMTO notice that the US facilitated 37 vessel transits through the strait of Hormuz on 25-26 August, a figure which was much lower than publicly available information shows and that could not be corroborated independently. Centcom did not respond to request for comment from Argus to provide additional details on the transits. By Charlotte Bawol Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
VLGC reroutes around S America to avoid canal
VLGC reroutes around S America to avoid canal
New York, 27 August (Argus) — A very large gas carrier (VLGC) returning to Houston from the Asia-Pacific region has opted to travel around South America instead of taking the significantly shorter route through the increasingly expensive Panama Canal, vessel tracking data show. The VLGC Gas Scorpio was traveling empty from China toward the Panama Canal initially, and appeared to have entered the anchorage area vessels use prior to transit in mid-August, according to Vortexa data. But the ship began to move south on 21 August along the west coast of South America with its destination still set to Houston, likely adding around 20 days of voyage time to the journey alongside potential strait of Magellan pilotage fees. When the vessel first arrived at the Panama Canal the Argus -assessed average price at auction for the Neopanamax locks that handle larger vessels like VLGCs was at $2.3mn. But on 26 August that price hit an all-time high of $3.1mn on steep competition for transit slots at the increasingly drought-afflicted waterway. At least one buyer paid as high as $5.26mn for a single auction slot. The Panama Canal Authority added restrictions on transit slots, including reduced Neopanamax daily transits, after El Nino weather conditions led to below-average precipitation during this summer's rainy season, further complicating the flow of cargoes. The Gas Scorpio was scheduled to load another LPG cargo on 25 August in the US Gulf coast after charterer Saudi Arabia ATC fixed the vessel in mid-July for another Houston to Chiba, Japan, voyage at $235/t.The vessel is now scheduled to arrive in the US in the second half of September. Rerouting could boost VLGC freight Avoiding the Panama Canal keeps ships off the spot market for extended periods, contributing to a shortfall of available VLGCs and potentially boosting freight rates. The rate for a Houston-Chiba VLGC voyage stood at $274/t on 26 August, Argus data show, 20pc below its all-time high of $345/t on 22 May on shifting trade flows after the closure of the strait of Hormuz by Iran. The Strait of Magellan, which runs for around 350 miles around southern Chile and Argentina can be an undesirable alternative to the Panama Canal for shippers given severe weather conditions. Other vessels sailing round-trip between Asia and the US Gulf coast are increasingly utilizing the Cape of Good Hope route, which also adds around 20 days of voyage time. But some charterers are paying premiums for smaller VLGCs specifically designed to fit the older and smaller Panamax locks. The average auction price via these locks hit $690,000 on 24 August, nearly 4.5 times less costly than the Neopanamax locks on the same day. By Delfina Marchese Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Voya raises $35mn for aluminum scrap-to-fuel tech
Voya raises $35mn for aluminum scrap-to-fuel tech
Houston, 27 August (Argus) — California-based clean energy startup Voya Energy raised $35mn in series A funding to scale its new energy system that uses fuel made from aluminum scrap to power generators that can produce electricity without combustion or air emissions at point of use. The financing will go toward technology development and its initial product rollout in 2027, while also supporting its plans to scale to commercial manufacturing in 2028, the company said on Wednesday. Voya, which raised $13mn in its seed round in July 2025, anticipates that its system will qualify for the clean electricity investment credit under section 48E of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act. The company intends to market the technology to data center developers, along with industrial operators and other "large energy users", touting that the system can alleviate pressure on local power grids and ease permitting challenges, given its "ultra-silent" design and zero-emission capabilities. Voya's metal-based fuel comes from turning "low-grade scrap aluminum" into pellets that then mix with air and water to produce electricity through a low-temperature, electrochemical process inside the company's generators that are housed in 20-foot containers. The company's industrial-scale design is expected to generate up to 2MW of electricity and will have a 10-foot fuel container that can hold around 100MWh of stored energy. When fully scaled, Voya anticipates that its system will be able to provide 100MW of generation capacity and 10GWh of stored energy per acre, which it touts is four times more compact than diesel generator fleets and 100 times more compact than grid-scale battery installations. It added that current efforts to prove out its technology have shown a conversion efficiency of 57pc, which it compared with 35pc from a diesel generator. Voya's fuel process creates aluminum trihydrate (ATH) as a byproduct, which the company plans to sell as a common industrial feedstock initially before pursuing its longer-term goal of turning ATH that it and others produce into "fuel-grade aluminum". ATH, which some consider as "specialty alumina", is a versatile compound whose uses include as a flame retardant in industrial applications, an antacid in the pharmaceutical industry and as a coagulant additive for water-treatment chemicals. "Our long-term opportunity is not simply to build another generator," Voya co-founder Richard Wang said. "It is to establish metal fuels as an entirely new energy category — one that can deliver dependable electricity across industries and applications anywhere on Earth." By Alex Nicoll Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
UK sets out schemes eligible for CBAM price relief
UK sets out schemes eligible for CBAM price relief
London, 27 August (Argus) — The UK government today published a non-exhaustive list of schemes that will qualify as a carbon price already paid in the country of origin for goods imported under its upcoming carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM). The list currently includes the emissions trading systems (ETSs) of the EU, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Montenegro, New Zealand and Switzerland, as well as carbon taxes in Chile, Serbia, Singapore and South Africa, the Australian safeguard mechanism, Canada's federal output-based pricing system, India's carbon credit trading scheme, and Taiwan's carbon fee. The government will publish an update "in due course" as further schemes are assessed, it said, as it is "aware" that some regional schemes may already meet the criteria it set out last month , while other schemes in development could qualify in the future. To claim relief on their UK CBAM obligations, importers must first calculate the effective carbon price already paid by taking the total installation emissions and identifying how many were subject to the different elements of the qualifying pricing scheme — the headline price payable, any additional price beyond this, free allowances received, payments for greenhouse gas removals, and the thresholds above or below which emissions are charged. The emissions subject to each element are then multiplied by the price per tonne of CO2 equivalent for each element in the previous calendar quarter — using a mean average if the price is not fixed — and added together. The total figure is then divided by the original total installation emissions. Carbon price relief is then calculated by multiplying the effective carbon price by the embodied emissions covered by the scheme for the relevant goods. This amount is converted into pounds sterling and subtracted from the CBAM liability. UK CBAM will start on 1 January 2027, applying an effective carbon price to specified goods imported into the UK in the aluminium, cement, fertiliser, hydrogen, iron and steel sectors. By Kiara Campagne Nieva Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2026. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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