Commodities and Shipping Club
Four desks,
one market.
Every CASC member joins a desk. Each desk is run by student desk heads, publishes analyst briefs, and covers its corner of the physical commodities world from production to freight.
Energy Desk
Energy
Where the barrel goes, and what it costs to get there.
Desk heads
Aman Desai
Head of Energy
Heet Kothari
Head of Energy
Coverage
- Crude oil: Brent, WTI and regional grade differentials
- Refined products: diesel, gasoline and jet cracks
- Natural gas and LNG: Henry Hub, TTF, JKM
- NGLs and petrochemical feedstocks
- Power markets and the energy transition
- OPEC+ policy, strategic reserves and sanctions
What analysts do
- Track inventories, refinery runs and term structure
- Model crack spreads and arbitrage windows
- Brief the club on geopolitics moving supply
Metals Desk
Metals
From the mine to the LME warehouse.
Desk heads
Thomas Landrove
Head of Metals
Luka Dolidze
Head of Metals
Coverage
- Copper, aluminium, nickel and zinc
- Gold, silver and the precious complex
- Battery metals: lithium and cobalt
- Iron ore and steel
- Exchange stocks, cancelled warrants and spreads
- Chinese demand and smelter economics
What analysts do
- Follow LME/COMEX curves and warehouse flows
- Read mine supply disruptions and TC/RCs
- Connect industrial data to price signals
Latest briefs
First briefs coming soon.
Agriculture Desk
Agriculture
Weather, yields and the global food trade.
Desk heads
Sehaj Chadha
Head of Agriculture
Coverage
- Grains: corn, wheat and rice
- Oilseeds: soybeans, meal, oil and palm
- Softs: sugar, coffee and cocoa
- Fertilizer: nitrogen, phosphate and potash
- WASDE balances and crop progress
- Biofuels policy and trade flows
What analysts do
- Build supply and demand balance sheets
- Track weather risk across growing regions
- Follow the trading houses moving the crop
Latest briefs
First briefs coming soon.
Shipping Desk
Shipping
Freight is the price of distance.
Desk heads
Theo Efstathiou
Head of Shipping
Coverage
- Tankers: VLCC, Suezmax, Aframax and product carriers
- Dry bulk: Capesize, Panamax and Supramax
- Containers: spot, contract and schedule reliability
- Forward freight agreements (FFAs) and the Baltic indices
- Chokepoints: Hormuz, Suez, Panama and Bab el-Mandeb
- Fleet supply, orderbook and ship values
What analysts do
- Read freight rates as a commodity signal
- Map vessel flows and port congestion
- Cover listings, S&P deals and the tanker cycle
Latest briefs
- Trafigura lists its VLCC fleet as Volare Shipping, raising ~$500M at a $1.2B valuation near the top of the tanker cycle
- Container reliability slides to 27% on time in September, with Asia–Europe at just 4% and a 9.9-day average delay
- South Korea completes its first commercial Arctic round trip to Europe, but sails well short of its cargo target