Shipping and trading

The following basket contains only two companies that operate in the whole chain of trading of energy resources and its transportation. As we see, there is a persistent geopolitical tension in the Strait of Hormuz and shipping restrictions in the Panama Canal. Given that we decided to focus on the company that owns mid-sized and large vessels. Its business model allows to fully capitalize on the currently high freight rates.

Additionally, we see that Glencore’s energy trading profits soar on Iran war, due to extreme price volatility and disrupted shipping routes that create massive profit opportunities for its energy trading division that brings almost 66% of all EBIT created in the 1st half of 2026.

Glencore plc [Internal score 74/100] is a diversified Swiss British giant and one of the world’s largest commodities traders and producers of natural resources. The company’s key unique advantage is the combination of its own mining assets with a massive physical commodity trading division. Business could be divided into three divisions: Industrial Assets, Marketing & Trading and Recycling.

According to the financial report for the 1 st half of 2026 revenue increased 49% y-o-y and amounted to $174B. EBITDA margin for the half year was around 4.6% level. Net income exceeds $406 mln vs $332 mln for the same period in 2025. Should be noted that Glencore booked $2.66B in adjusted EBIT from energy trading in the 1 st half of 2026, which accounts for a major share of its overall $3.3 billion total marketing adjusted EBIT.

Scorpio Tankers Inc [Internal score 62/100] is a shipowner engaged in the maritime transportation of primarily petroleum products. The company owns the largest fleet of large-tonnage tankers (80,000–120,000 DWT) among its publicly traded peers. As of July 2026, it owns 79 tankers, with an average fleet age of 10 years.

Revenue is derived from spot voyages within commercial pools (80% of revenue) and outside them (1.3%), long-term time charters (18%), and bareboat charters (0.7%). The company benefits significantly from market freight rate volatility while simultaneously generating stable income from leasing out a portion of its tonnage. In the 1 st half of 2026, the company’s revenue increased by 63% year-on-year to $0.7 billion, driven in part by high freight rates for large vessels amidst geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz. The EBITDA margin (excluding gains from vessel sales) stood at 66%.

The timing is driven by a fresh squeeze on energy shipping: attacks around Hormuz have intensified, talks on a possible shipping agreement were postponed on 13 September, and the attack on Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline has put another export route under pressure. Tanker rates are already responding sharply, while the Panama Canal cuts transit capacity again from 15 September, keeping both freight costs and energy-market volatility high, a favourable backdrop for Scorpio’s shipping business and Glencore’s trading division.