LaycanDeskBentonite and barite freight: drilling and foundry grades in bulk and bags
Raw bentonite lumps and processed powder from Kandla and Mundra, barite from Morocco and India, on geared Handysize and Supramax bulkers, MPP ships and in containers to drilling hubs, bleaching-earth plants and foundries. Freight for bentonite and barite: Kutch bentonite lumps at 35 to 60 dollars a tonne FOB moving in 25,000 to 57,000 tonne lots from Kandla and Mundra to Indonesia, Malaysia and China, processed API and foundry grades in 25 kg bags and one-tonne big bags in containers, and barite, a dense IMSBC Group C cargo at about 0.34 cubic metres a tonne, from Morocco and India to drilling-fluid plants on the Omani coast, in West Africa and Southeast Asia, with tank-top loading, moisture and dust settled before a ship is named.
The two minerals ship at opposite ends of the density scale. Bentonite is a light, swelling clay: raw lumps stow at about 1.1 cubic metres a tonne, so a Handysize fills on volume, and the cargo must stay dry because wet bentonite swells, cakes on the tank top and is a discharge problem for the grab. Barite is one of the heaviest bulk cargoes in the IMSBC Code, Group C, stowage factor about 0.34 cubic metres a tonne, bulk density about 2,940 kilograms a cubic metre; it loads to the ship's deadweight in a few holds and must be trimmed and spread so the tank-top strength is not exceeded, and its dust is fine and abrasive. Both are hygroscopic enough that owners want weathertight hatches, no loading in rain and clean holds after coal or salt. India is the world's largest bentonite exporter: 1.54 million tonnes in 2024 at an average of about 56 dollars a tonne, to Indonesia (253,000 tonnes), China and Malaysia (161,000 tonnes each), Oman (121,000 tonnes) and Korea, most of it Kutch lumps for bleaching earth and foundry use loaded at Kandla and Mundra, sixty kilometres from the mines. The two ships the desk followed in September 2026 bracket the trade: a 29,000 dwt Handysize for Chattogram, where draft limits the lot, and a 57,000 dwt Supramax for Jiangyin. Processed grades, API 13A drilling bentonite and green-sand foundry bentonite at 85 to 100 dollars a tonne, and drilling-grade barite go in 25 kg bags and one-tonne big bags in 20-foot containers or as bagged part cargo on MPP ships. Morocco exported about 932,000 tonnes of barite in 2024 and, with India and China, supplies most of the world's drilling barite; Türkiye's bentonite comes from the Enez, Çankırı, Reşadiye and Kalecik deposits and goes mainly to the United States, China and Germany.
Send us the mineral and grade, whether lumps, powder, bags or big bags, quantity with tolerance, moisture, load port and loading method, discharge port with draft and grab or bag handling, laycan, commission and the charterer's name. Raw bentonite lots of 25,000 to 57,000 tonnes go to owners of geared Handysize and Supramax tonnage opening in the Arabian Sea or ballasting back from Chattogram to the Gujarat coast; bagged parcels of 500 to 5,000 tonnes go against MPP and liner sailings, and container lots to the lines from Mundra and Kandla. Barite stems are checked for tank-top strength and trim before an owner quotes. On the buyer side the bleaching-earth plants around Port Klang and in Indonesia buy raw calcium bentonite in bulk, the drilling-fluid companies on the Omani coast and in West Africa buy API barite and bentonite bagged, and the foundries buy activated sodium bentonite in big bags. The exporter usually sells CFR on its own tonnage or FOB Kandla with the buyer fixing; we ask which desk fixes before anything goes to owners. Every counterparty is screened before an owner sees the stem.
How it ships
- Bentonite lumps about 1.1 m³/t; fills a Handysize on volume
- Barite IMSBC Group C, about 0.34 m³/t, 2,940 kg/m³; tank-top strength and trim
- Keep dry: swelling and caking on the tank top; no loading in rain
- Fine abrasive dust; clean holds after coal or salt
- Processed grades in 25 kg bags and 1 t big bags, containers or MPP part cargo
Load areas
- India: Kandla (tidal, about 12–14 m) and Mundra (14 m and more)
- Morocco (barite) and Türkiye (bentonite)
- India east coast barite (Mangampet via Chennai and Krishnapatnam)
Discharge areas
- Oman (Duqm, Sohar) and the UAE east coast (Fujairah) drilling hubs
- Malaysia (Port Klang) and Indonesia bleaching-earth plants
- China (Jiangyin, Zhangjiagang) processors
- Bangladesh (Chattogram) ceramics and traders
- West Africa oilfield supply bases
Ships that carry it
The cargo itself, on Commbril
Questions charterers and owners ask
Why does barite need a tank-top check?
Because it stows at about 0.34 cubic metres a tonne, three times as dense as coal, so a full deadweight sits in a small footprint. The IMSBC Code treats it as a Group C cargo with no chemical hazard, but the loading plan must spread and trim it so no hold exceeds its tank-top strength. Owners ask for the stowage plan and the loading rate before they quote.
What lot sizes move from Kandla and Mundra?
Raw bentonite lumps move in Handysize and Supramax lots of 25,000 to 57,000 tonnes: the two ships followed in September 2026 were a 29,000 dwt Handysize for Chattogram and a 57,000 dwt Supramax for Jiangyin. Comtrade's 2024 lanes of 161,000 to 253,000 tonnes a year to Malaysia, China and Indonesia imply five to ten such cargoes a year each. Processed grades in bags go by container.
Does bentonite need any special hold preparation?
Clean, dry holds with weathertight hatches, and no loading in rain: the clay swells and cakes when wet, which spoils a bleaching-earth or foundry grade and leaves a crust the grab cannot lift. Holds that last carried coal or salt are washed before loading. Processed powder in bulk also throws fine dust, so the loading method matters at ports with dust limits.
Who fixes the ship on an Indian bentonite cargo?
Usually the exporter, on CFR terms and often through its own trading offices abroad; some buyers take FOB Kandla or Mundra and fix themselves. A Handysize ballasting from Chattogram back to the Gujarat coast is the natural position for the next lot, and that is the ship we put forward once the shipper and the receiving plant are named.