Transportation and shipping

Manage the physical logistics of any commodity.

Discover what ION can do for you

Over 2.5 billion tons of bulk materials transported on vessels are managed with ION Commodities solutions

In today’s era of lean supply chains, rising raw material prices, and regular disruptions, transporting and storing your commodities can be challenging. Efficient transportation can be the difference between being profitable or not, making supply chain management software crucial. When this software is integrated with your commodity management system, you can achieve even greater efficiencies while increasing visibility into your portfolio. ION Commodities solutions empower businesses to manage the physical logistics of any commodity, whether it travels by pipeline, tanker, barge, vessel, rail, or truck.

Related sectors

Fuel consumer

Purchasers of large quantities of fuels, like airlines and logistics companies, need control over the volatility of fuel costs. Most importantly, they must ensure adequate fuel is available to support their operations.

Logistics and storage

Companies that own, operate, or manage and track logistical and storage activities.

Shipping and marine services

Vessel and barge owners and operators, or those who charter marine-based transportation, that manage the risk and cost of transporting freight.

Value delivered

  • Challenge

    Separate systems for trading and scheduling

    Integrated energy firms, refiners and petrochemical manufacturers, power generators, agricultural commodity traders, crude producers, refined products, fuels, and NGL and LNG marketers and traders can benefit from an integrated platform for commodity logistics. By knowing your global physical positions, you can trade more effectively around your positions and manage imbalances. Businesses with integrated trading and logistics solutions can reduce operational costs and risk by optimizing their logistics and storage operations, achieving higher margins and lower costs.

    Solution

    Benefit from a single, connected solution

    ION’s commodity management solutions can support your needs across all major commodity classes and modes of transportation. Our solutions are built on robust commodity trading and risk management (CTRM) systems that support the commodity lifecycle from trade to cash. ION also has several complementary solutions that integrate with our core CTRM systems to expand the management of your transportation and shipping operations, and optimize your supply chain.

  • Challenge

    Managing fuel price volatility

    Fuel is one of the largest costs for airlines, railroads, shippers, trucking companies, and integrated logistics companies. The high cost of alternative fuels can erode profit margins and volatile fuel costs can cause large swings in your profitability. Companies that best manage their fuel costs and other risks can gain more stable margins and, therefore, a competitive advantage.

    Solution

    Optimize against volatility

    Understanding fuel consumption and developing an effective purchasing and hedging strategy is key to ensuring that fuel costs and volatility are managed. Doing this requires sophisticated commodity management systems. ION’s commodity management solutions go beyond trading to track inventories, logistical movements, and imbalances, enabling you to ensure that you always have the fuel available to support your transportation operations.

  • Challenge

    Outdated tools for vessel management

    Marine logistics is a key element in the global supply chain, with over 90% of the world’s traded goods being transported by sea. Though marine transport is efficient, costs can be quite high. Many risks are made more acute because the payment for your products may come several months after you purchased or produced the products. Despite these complexities, industry surveys show that many companies are still attempting to manage chartering and vessel operations with spreadsheets. This creates information silos and blind spots, along with presenting a greater risk for error.

    Solution

    A solution built for shipping

    Complete transparency and fast access to actionable information can be the difference between sinking and swimming. Shipping companies and commodity companies utilizing ocean freight need a complete picture of enterprise position and exposure. They must deploy an advanced software solution for chartering, vessel operations, and risk management. Softmar, ION’s vessel chartering solution, equips organizations to make better decisions with accurate and real-time information exchange. ION’s commodity management solutions empower you to take control of your organization’s shipping and transportation operations.

  • Challenge

    Reducing costs while ensuring supply

    Managing bunker trading and risk while also reducing fuel costs is essential for shippers’ survival. The high cost of alternative fuels, together with price volatility and the need to maintain product quality, stability, and availability, all pose challenges that have a direct impact on profitability. Shipping companies are seeking ways to improve their bunker fuel procurement strategies through sophisticated purchasing programs, while bunker traders offer risk management and hedging support strategies.

    Solution

    Optimize trading, risk, and inventory management

    ION’s Aspect is a comprehensive solution for bunker traders and shippers seeking to optimize their fuel procurement. With capabilities spanning from trade capture to risk management to inventory management and settlement, Aspect provides complete visibility across the value chain for improved understanding of profits, losses, and exposures. By knowing exactly what stock is held in tanks across the world, along with the value, title, and specifications of that stock, you can make informed decisions to yield the best possible margins.

Scheduling and trading convergence
Fuel insight
Marine freight management
Bunker trading

Products

  • RightAngle

    A CTRM with robust scheduling and logistics capabilities for liquid hydrocarbon companies.

  • Softmar

    A shipping solution for vessel chartering and operations integrated with ION’s CTRMs.

  • WAM

    An optimization solution for supply and demand planning, integrated with ION’s CTRMs.

  • Aspect

    A multi-tenant, SaaS CTRM for liquid hydrocarbons and metals traders moving off spreadsheets.

Latest Commodities news

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Chartis Research ranks ION Commodities as a leading technology provider for energy markets for the fourth time in a row

28 February 2024
London – 28 February 2024: ION Commodities, a global leader in energy and ...

ION recognized by IDC FinTech Rankings as a FastTrack FinTech company

4 December 2023
LONDON – 4 December 2023: ION, a leading global provider of trading, analytics, ...

ION Commodities wins CTRM Software House of the Year for the second consecutive year at Energy Risk Asia Awards 2023

10 October 2023
LONDON – 10 October 2023: ION Commodities, a leading provider of energy and ...

ION Commodities ranks #1 in Chartis Research’s Energy50, winning 12 awards

17 August 2023
LONDON – 17 August 2023: ION Commodities, a global leader in energy and ...

ION wins Stevie Award for Customer Service for seventh consecutive year

19 July 2023
LONDON – 19 July 2023: ION, the largest global provider of trading, analytics, ...

ION launches Carbon Zero for trading and managing carbon credits and environmental certificates

22 May 2023
London – 22 May 2023: ION, a leading provider of trading, risk, and ...

Latest Commodities awards

Chartis Research’s Energy50 survey 2024

Leading technology provider for energy markets

Energy Risk Awards 2023

Oil, Gas/LNG, power, metals and agriculture products

Energy Risk Awards 2023

Market analytics, model valuation and risk exposure management

Energy Risk Awards 2023

Emissions and green certificates