10 best tools for commodity cargo tracking in 2026

What this article covers

• Who uses cargo tracking tools: The industries and roles using cargo tracking and flow visibility in day-to-day decision making
• How to choose a cargo tracking tool: Key considerations when choosing the right tool for your needs
• The best cargo tracking tools for 2026: A comparison of the leading platforms, their key focus, and who each is best suited for
• What makes Kpler the leading cargo tracking solution in 2026: An overview of Kpler’s features and functionalities

Who uses commodity cargo tracking tools?

Typically, organisations that collect and analyse the trade flows for physical commodities are involved in the production, trade or financing of energy (such as crude oil, LNG or coal) or dry bulk (such as grains, iron ore, or other metals) industry or they otherwise are speculating in the market. 

Real-time trade flow tracking enables organisations to gain insight into how supply and demand forces are going to shape global prices before official sources publish this information, such as customs in the United States, other U.S. federal agencies like the USDA, JODI, Eurostat and similar organisations across the world. These organisations make use of this data by positioning their trade portfolios against what they anticipate happening in the market, whether the price of the good they trade will move up or down, and also influencing the instrument that they use, whether a futures contract, a spread of some kind, or they may trade other types of assets entirely.

• Physical traders and analysts use commodity flows in order to gain insight into the supply & demand of regional commodity markets
• Financial investors use real time commodity trade flows in order to understand the impact of shifts within commodity markets on the assets they trade, potentially outside of physical futures contracts

How to choose the best commodity cargo tracking tool?

The right commodity tool depends on the markets of interest, the scale of your operations, and the depth and types of insights needed. While some tools focus on specific commodities or regions, others offer multi-commodity visibility across global markets. 

When choosing a provider, consider the following factors:

• Data coverage: Which commodities, regions, and value-chain components do you need visibility on? Which tool provides the flows you need for your markets?‍
• Timeliness: How critical is the frequency of updates? Do you need real-time data or are periodic updates sufficient?‍
• Data sources: Are the data sources relevant and reliable? Look for companies that provide backtests against customs reports
• ‍Analytical depth: Does the tool offer forecasting, historical context, or scenario modelling?
• ‍Integration options: The ease of integrating the tool into your workflow. Does it offer APIs, Excel plug-ins, and BI compatibility?
• ‍Usability and support: How intuitive or accessible is the tool’s interface? Is support provided for operational issues?

Best cargo tracking tools for 2026

These are the commodity cargo tracking tools that provide tracking in 2026.

Ranking reflects an editorial assessment based on coverage breadth, update frequency, analytical depth, and integration capabilities.

What makes Kpler one of the leading commodity cargo tracking solution in 2026?

Kpler delivers real-time commodity flow data across 40+ commodities with industry leading accuracy. Kpler makes its backtests available to clients on a regular basis to ensure the highest satisfaction among similar data providers. Its best-in-class technology is powered by a proprietary combination of market sources and algorithmic behavior that produces data that thousands of traders across the world trust to make decisions. In the fast moving world of commodity markets, Kpler has made its name on quality and continues to grow each year offering new types of interconnected commodity market intelligence for its many customers. 

Organisations choose Kpler to:

• Track the real-time seaborne movements of over 40 commodities  
• Build supply and demand models that benefit from real time data 
• Integrate data into internal models and systems via API, Snowflake or liveDB solution
• Reduce uncertainty by comparing their own insights with Kpler
• Act quickly with reliable real-time data that unlocks insight into market moving events
• Use dashboards to monitor vessel movements, cargo status and storage levels
• Access 24/7 customer support‍

Find out more about Kpler market intelligence platform. Request a demo today.