by Jared » April 8, 2026, 7:33 pm
Well the first point is that the companies that own the boats typically don't share the books with the public. Remember that there is still some competition with contracts and trying to find the best price comes first.
Second point is that prices per ton is constantly changing. A price that is X in May is not the same as X in September.
Third point, crew seniority, fuel, supplies, route changes, all the variable factors in operation and that plays into it too.
So you have to guess the forensics of how much cargo there is per trip up or down, tonnage for said price and automatically cut 40% of it out for point 3 and you'll get a ballpark estimate.
For example, Interlake Steamship hauls ~20 Million tons of cargo a year and has a stated income of $76~ Million. Divide that up with 10 ships on a average thats just over $7 million a year per ship by average (tonnages and trips ignored). So per trip profit seems to be around 400K to 700K.
Well the first point is that the companies that own the boats typically don't share the books with the public. Remember that there is still some competition with contracts and trying to find the best price comes first.
Second point is that prices per ton is constantly changing. A price that is X in May is not the same as X in September.
Third point, crew seniority, fuel, supplies, route changes, all the variable factors in operation and that plays into it too.
So you have to guess the forensics of how much cargo there is per trip up or down, tonnage for said price and automatically cut 40% of it out for point 3 and you'll get a ballpark estimate.
For example, Interlake Steamship hauls ~20 Million tons of cargo a year and has a stated income of $76~ Million. Divide that up with 10 ships on a average thats just over $7 million a year per ship by average (tonnages and trips ignored). So per trip profit seems to be around 400K to 700K.