LaycanDeskCement clinker and bulk cement freight
Clinker, bulk cement, GGBFS and fly ash on geared bulkers and pneumatic cement carriers from Indonesia, Egypt, Viet Nam, Türkiye, Japan and India. Freight for cement clinker, bulk cement, granulated blast furnace slag and fly ash: grab-loaded clinker on geared Handysize and Supramax bulkers, bulk cement on pneumatic self-discharging cement carriers or on bulkers where the receiver has a hopper, from the largest exporters in Indonesia, Egypt, Viet Nam and Türkiye, and slag and fly ash from Japan, Korea and India.
Clinker is a hard, granular cement intermediate and ships like a mineral: loaded by conveyor or grab and discharged by grab into hoppers, on geared Handysize, Handymax and Supramax bulkers that can work ports without shore gear. Indonesia and Egypt were forecast to export about 12.5 and 12.4 million tonnes of clinker in 2025, and Viet Nam and Türkiye lead bulk cement exports, Türkiye's rising to 11.5 million tonnes. Finished cement is the harder cargo: it is a fine powder that must stay dry, and grab handling throws up dust. Specialist cement carriers solve that with enclosed holds, their own compressors and a pneumatic pipe system on deck, loading by gravity through hatch openings and discharging by air into a silo; conventional bulkers carry bulk cement where the receiver has a hopper and dust controls. Granulated blast furnace slag moves in bulk to grinding plants, with traditional flows from Japan and Korea into Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the North American west coast; Indian fly ash goes mainly to Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.
Send us the product (clinker, OPC or blended cement, slag or fly ash), quantity with tolerance, load port with the loading method and rate, discharge port with the discharge method (grab and hopper, or pneumatic into silo) and rate, laycan, commission and the charterer's name. Clinker, slag and bulker-carried cement go to owners of geared Handysize and Supramax tonnage; pneumatic cement cargoes go to cement carrier operators. Hold cleanliness matters for cement and slag because contamination changes the product, so owners are asked for the last cargoes. The plant of origin is asked first, and every counterparty is screened before an owner sees the stem.
How it ships
- Clinker: conveyor or grab loading, grab discharge to hopper
- Bulk cement: pneumatic self-discharging cement carriers
- Bulk cement on bulkers where the receiver has hopper and dust control
- Dry, clean holds; last cargoes declared
- Geared ships for ports without shore gear
Load areas
- Indonesia
- Egypt
- Viet Nam
- Türkiye
- Japan and Korea (granulated slag)
- India (fly ash)
Discharge areas
- West and East Africa
- Bangladesh and South Asia
- Southeast Asia
- North and South America
Ships that carry it
The cargo itself, on Commbril
Questions charterers and owners ask
Does bulk cement need a cement carrier?
Not always. Pneumatic cement carriers with their own compressors discharge into a silo with little dust, and they are the right ship where the receiver has a silo terminal. Conventional bulkers carry bulk cement by grab where the receiver has a hopper and dust controls. The discharge arrangement decides the ship.
Is clinker handled like cement?
No. Clinker is granular and robust, loads and discharges by grab and ships on ordinary geared bulkers. It still needs dry holds, because the receiver grinds it into cement, but it does not need the enclosed pneumatic handling finished cement does.
Where does granulated slag ship from?
Traditionally from steel producers in Japan and Korea to grinding plants in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the North American west coast, in bulk on bulk carriers discharging at equipped terminals. Give us the origin and the receiving plant and we go to owners opening in the area.
What do owners ask about a clinker stem?
Quantity, the loading and discharge rates and methods, draft at both ports, last-cargo restrictions, laycan and the charterer's name. Discharge into a hopper by ship's grab is slow at some receivers, and owners price those days.