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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Japan’s Honda to produce more cars in US, less locally
Japan’s Honda to produce more cars in US, less locally
Tokyo, 16 April (Argus) — Japanese car producer Honda will produce a car model at its US facility instead of its domestic facility from as early as June, the company told Argus today, possibly to avoid the US' tariffs on foreign car deliveries. Honda will stop manufacturing the Civic Hybrid 5-door model at the country's eastern Yorii plant during June-July and switch the production to its US plant in the state of Indianna, the representative of the firm told Argus . Honda produced 3,000 units of the model during February and March, he added. This comes as part of the company's mid-to long term "optimisation strategy", according to the firm, reiterating that theproduction switch is not a countermeasure against the US' across-the-board 25pc tariff on automobile imports that took effect on 3 April. But this may not be entirely convincing since Honda just started producing the model in February, leaving room for speculation that the transfer is part of a wider strategy to reduce delivery costs to the US market. Honda did not disclose whether the Indiana plant will procure auto parts from its suppliers in Canada or Mexico . Japanese auto industry is still bracing for further developments in the US tariff policy on automobile and auto parts, although US president Donald Trump on 14 April suggested possibly pausing the tariff. Tokyo and Washington will hold a ministerial talk this week to negotiate trade issues, including the levy on auto delivery, along with the 24pc "reciprocal" tariffs the Trump administration separately imposed on Japanese imports. Japanese government is hoping to negotiate for a better tariff deal during the 90-day pause on the reciprocal tariff imposition by the US government, and the automobile industry is seen as a key sector to settle the deal. The US president has long expressed his dissatisfaction against the auto trade imbalance between two countries. Japan exported around 1.3mn units of passenger vehicles to the US in 2024, while Japan purchased around 23,000 units of US passenger vehicles in 2023. By Yusuke Maekawa Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Brazil's soybean outflow causes truck queue in Rondonia
Brazil's soybean outflow causes truck queue in Rondonia
Sao Paulo, 20 March (Argus) — The waiting time for shipping the 2024-25 soybean crop at Brazil's port of Porto Velho reached six days this week, according to the local soybean producers association Aprosoja-RO. Lack of port infrastructure and farm storage, combined with the 2024-25 oilseed harvest peak in recent weeks, increased the truck queue for the flow of cargo at the port, in Brazil's northern state of Rondonia. "We have a queue of up to 1,200 trucks at the Porto Velho sorting yard, where all the production from the state and from Mato Grosso's northwest region are transported," said the administrative director of Aprosoja-RO, Marcelo Lucas. The cargo is shipped and continues along the Madeira River to the port of Santarem, in northern Para state, where it is exported. The 2024-25 soybean harvest in Rondonia is expected to reach 2.4mn metric tonnes (t), up by 7pc from the previous cycle, according to the national supply company Conab. Rondonia state did not have difficulties of this magnitude in previous years, but because of the peak in this cycle's harvest, there is a higher volume to be transported in a shorter period of time, according to Aprosoja-RO. Aprosoja-RO also said the logistical bottlenecks have caused losses to producers, who are unable to transport the harvest from their properties. The cargoes that are able to be loaded end up degraded because of the long waits in lines. Farmers are also absorbing the costs of keeping trucks parked in warehouses and ports, raising road freight prices to levels above what is traditionally practiced in the region, said Aprosoja-RO. In the week ending 13 March road grain freight on the Sapezal-Porto Velho corridor reached R235/t ($42/t), compared to R185/t in the same period in 2024. The entity said they are working with the state government to review the concession of the Porto Velho port, allowing other companies to operate it. Aprosoja-RO received reports that there are idle spaces that could be serving the producers. The port of Porto Velho is managed by the state ports and waterways society Soph, which said it does not manage the external truck queues, and does not have authority in the retroport area of trucks awaiting clearance for sorting to the terminals. By Bruno Castro Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
US' China ship fees would boost costs, not shipbuilding
US' China ship fees would boost costs, not shipbuilding
New York, 19 March (Argus) — The US Trade Representative's (USTR) proposal to fine Chinese-built ships calling on US ports would cripple trade flows and increase costs for US consumers rather than promote domestic shipbuilding efforts, according to comments from shipping industry participants. Comments filed earlier this month from US industries that rely on shipborne cargo were critical of the USTR plan to fine owners of Chinese-built vessels between $500,000 and $1.5mn per port call, saying it would disrupt trade flows and increase US consumer costs . In more recent filings, the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA), shipbrokers and major shipping associations, among others, echoed those concerns, calling on the USTR to reconsider its proposal ahead of a public hearing the USTR will host on 24 March. The AAPA commended USTR's goal of revitalizing the US' domestic maritime industry, but warned that the proposed fine on Chinese-built ships would not have a positive impact on US shipbuilding efforts. "The fees will do little to grow the American shipbuilding industry, which needs major infusions of capital, workforce talent and innovation to begin competing with shipbuilders abroad," the AAPA said. Existing shipyards in the US are working at or near capacity, so higher demand will not enable them to produce additional ships with the "same number of resources", according to AAPA. The proposed fines would disrupt the efficient and cost-effective flow of essential goods to the American cities and industries, shipbroker Lightship said in its comments to the USTR proposal. "If the US were to tax Chinese vessels, then Japanese vessels and shipyards would be the directly benefited party, not the eventual US shipyards," the shipbroker said. A $1mn fee on Chinese vessels calling on US ports would be an effective $20/t surcharge on the 50,000t-sized cargoes common in the Supramax dry bulker segment that delivers critical cargoes to the US, Lightship said, such as the rock salt that de-ices roads along the US east coast. "The salt producer and seller will subsequently raise the price per ton of salt to offset these higher freight costs," Lightship said. Fees on Chinese vessels would split the global freight market into US-focused and US-avoidant shipping segments, according to major international shipping agency BIMCO, while the additional costs would be "passed on to the US consumer". "The totality of the world fleet would not change, but the overall cost of maritime trade would increase due to less competition in the now segregated US market," BIMCO said. "In this regard, it is worth keeping in mind that the US import/export is about 12pc of global seaborne trade, so the consequences of reorganizing maritime trade will have a much bigger impact on US import/export than on trade in the rest of the world." The threat of the proposals being instituted under US president Donald Trump's administration contributed to a nearly 20pc increase in freight rates last week for dry bulk vessels loading out of the US . The rise was notable for early signs of a bifurcation developing in US exports, as vessel operators without Chinese vessels in their fleet submitted higher $/d offers for US-loading cargoes compared to operators utilizing Chinese vessels in their fleet. By Charlotte Bawol Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
Houthis to resume attacks on Israeli ships in Red Sea
Houthis to resume attacks on Israeli ships in Red Sea
New York, 11 March (Argus) — Yemeni rebel group the Houthis today said it will resume attacks on "Israeli ships" passing through the Red Sea, following the group's 7 March warning that it would restart if humanitarian aid was not let into Gaza. The group paused its attacks on ships after a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza went into effect on 19 January. But now it will resume its "ban on the passage of all Israeli ships in the designated operations zones in the Red and Arabian sea, as well as Bab-al-Mandab strait and the Gulf of Aden," according to posts it made on social media sites X and Telegram. "Any Israeli ships attempting to violate this ban shall be targeted in the declared zones of operations," the group said. "This ban shall continue until crossing to the Gaza Strip are reopened and aid, food and medicine are allowed in." The group in a 7 March video had said it would resume attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea if humanitarian aid was not allowed into Gaza . "If the enemy continues, after four days, to stop humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip, including food, medicine, then we will return to continuing our sea operations against the enemy," it said in the video. By Charlotte Bawol Send comments and request more information at feedback@argusmedia.com Copyright © 2025. Argus Media group . All rights reserved.
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