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.
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India’s Gail signs 14-year time charter for LNG carrier
India’s Gail signs 14-year time charter for LNG carrier
Mumbai, 17 May (Argus) — India's state-controlled gas distributor Gail has signed a 14-year time charter agreement with US-based LNG shipping firm CoolCo for an LNG carrier, the former said on 16 May. The time charter for the LNG carrier will start operating from early 2025 as it is currently under construction. Gail is likely to receive the carrier during October-December in the Gulf of Mexico, CoolCo said. The charter will be the fifth LNG carrier in Gail's vessels that are intended to secure long-term supply of LNG in India. Gail will have an option to extend the charter by two additional years beyond its contracted 14-year period. The LNG carrier will likely be used to ship LNG volumes from the US, Russia, and from its recent contracts with Abu Dhabi's state-owned Adnoc and trading firm Vitol , a company official told Argus . (See table) "Long-term cargoes are there and there are a few lifts from the spot markets as well," the source added. "It is how the consumption pattern of the country is now shaping more towards LNG since domestic volumes are constrained." The firm also planned to add an LNG tanker to ship cargoes from the US, Argus exclusively reported in February. Gail expects India's gas demand to rise and has been looking to secure more term deals . Gail is seeking an additional 7mn-8mn t/yr of LNG for its portfolio with a further 1mn-2mn t/yr, the firm said in January. This reiterates targets set in August last year . Gail's portfolio growth aligns with the government's plan to increase the share of gas in its primary energy mix to 15pc by 2030 from around 6pc in 2022. By Rituparna Ghosh Gail contracts mn t/yr Supplier/terminal Volume Fob/des Dates Sabine Pass 3.5 fob 2018-38 Cove Point 2.3 fob 2018-38 SEFE 2.5 des 2018-41 Vitol 1.0 des 2026-36 Adnoc 0.5 des 2026-36 Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Texas barge collision shuts GIWW section: Correction
Texas barge collision shuts GIWW section: Correction
Corrects volume of oil carried by barge in fourth paragraph. Houston, 16 May (Argus) — Authorities closed a six-mile section of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW) near Galveston, Texas, because of an oil spill caused by a barge collision with the Pelican Island causeway bridge. The section between mile markers 351.5 and 357.5 along the waterway closed, according to the US Coast Guard. A barge broke away from the Philip George tugboat and hit the bridge between Pelican Island and Galveston around 11am ET today. Concrete from the bridge fell onto the barge and triggered an oil leak. The barge can hold up to 30,000 bl oil, but it was unknown how full the barge was before the crash, Galveston County county judge Mark Henry said. It was unclear when the waterway would reopen. An environmental cleanup crew was on the scene along with the US Coast Guard and Texas Department of Transportation to assess the damage. Multiple state agencies have debated the replacement of the 64-year-old bridge for several years, Henry said. The rail line alongside the bridge collapsed. Marine traffic does not pass under the bridge. By Meghan Yoyotte Intracoastal Waterway at Galveston Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Chevron books Aframax for TMX cargo to California
Chevron books Aframax for TMX cargo to California
Houston, 13 May (Argus) — Chevron provisionally hired an Aframax to haul a cargo of crude from Vancouver, British Columbia, to the US west coast as the Trans Mountain Expansion (TMX) brings more oil to Canada's Pacific coast. Chevron put the Aframax Garibaldi Spirit on subjects for a Vancouver-US west coast voyage loading from 25 May at WS125, market participants said. That rate is equivalent to $11.16/t or $1.63/bl for heavy sour Cold Lake, according to Argus data. The US west coast historically has been the main destination for crude exported from Vancouver, with 96pc, or about 38,500 b/d, landing at ports in Washington and California in the 12 months ended 30 April, according to data from analytics firm Vortexa. Chevron purchased five cargoes from Vancouver for its 269,000 b/d refinery in El Segundo, California, during that span, most recently in February. The 590,000 b/d TMX project began commercial service on 1 May, tripling the capacity of the Trans Mountain pipeline system to 890,000 b/d. The line creates a larger link from Alberta's growing oil sands production to the west coast port of Vancouver and direct access to Pacific Rim markets, where buyers are eager for heavy sour crude . The first TMX cargo, 550,000 bl of Canadian Access Western Blend which Suncor booked on an Aframax in late April , will load between 18-24 May for June delivery in China. PetroChina and Unipec each control an Aframax near Canada's Pacific coast that would be available to load in Vancouver in the second half of May, though those ships could also be relet to deliver crude to the US west coast. The port of Vancouver's distance from many traditional Aframax trading routes may stretch the global fleet once TMX ramps up. The port cannot accommodate tankers larger than Aframaxes. By Tray Swanson Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Lack of infrastructure to hamper VLAC development
Lack of infrastructure to hamper VLAC development
London, 10 May (Argus) — Development of a very large ammonia carrier (VLAC) market could be delayed by a lack of terminal infrastructure to allow discharge of 40,000-60,000t cargoes, said Steem1960 ammonia shipbroker Lisa Maria Assmann at the Argus Clean Ammonia conference in Tokyo. Around 40 VLACs are scheduled to hit the water between 2026 and 2028, when an uptake in clean ammonia trade is likely to be pushed by public tenders from South Korea and Japan. "VLACs cannot discharge these large volumes using the existing infrastructure," Assmann said. "We have storages that are much smaller than that, terminals with draft issues, LOA (length overall) issues. With all these problems, I do not see these large volumes being discharged in a speedy manner in the short-term, not before 2035-40 at least." In the larger segment of gas carriers, the very large gas carriers (VLGCs) built between 2009 and 2022 cannot carry ammonia cargoes, according to the shipbroker. These vessels were built when there were no expectations of carrying ammonia at such volumes, and the capability was not included to save costs at that time. "By 2030 we may have about 150 VLGCs available to carry ammonia, either at 86pc or 95pc capacity, but that is still a discussion for the future because we still do not have the infrastructure in place for the discharge," Asmann said. Ship-to-ship transfers from larger to smaller vessels could be a solution in the medium term, Assmann said, but she pondered that even then there are regulation issues that would hamper its widespread use. By Yohanna Pinheiro Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2024. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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