Baltic Exchange And Freightos To Launch Global Container Freight Index

For the first time ever the global container shipping industry will have an independent, audited benchmark thanks to an innovative tie-up between the Baltic Exchange, the most trusted name in freight benchmarking, and Freightos, the digital container freight platform.

The two organisations today (25 April) announced at Singapore Maritime Week that the Freightos International Freight Index, which reflects weekly spot rates for 40-foot containers based on 12 to 18 million price points collected every week on 12 main shipping trade lanes, will be audited by the Baltic Exchange and republished as the Freightos Baltic Indices. This will also include a new headline index – the FBX Global Container Index (FBX) – a weighted average of the 12 underlying route indexes, while setting the stage for derivative financial instruments in the future.

The Baltic Exchange already provides daily assessments for the dry bulk, tanker and gas freight markets which are used widely in both the physical shipping markets and to settle Forward Freight Agreements (FFAs). Freightos market intelligence, fed by the world’s largest freight rate database, is used by logistics services providers and supply chain organisations alike.

fotolia-federico-rostagno-ship-containers — Image Credits: ec.europa.eucontainer

The Baltic Exchange is a trusted and independent body with a 274-year track-record of providing services to the bulk shipping industry and financial services, and a highly experienced manager of a diverse range of assessments for the maritime markets, backed by the Singapore Exchange (SGX), Asia’s leading and trusted market infrastructure and one of the world’s great derivative exchanges.

Announcing the partnership, Baltic Exchange Chief Executive Mark Jackson said:

“Baltic Exchange benchmarks are already widely used as settlement mechanisms in the derivatives and physical markets for billions of dollars-worth of bulk freight transactions. Our products have allowed shipowners, charterers and traders to manage the volatile business of moving bulk commodities by sea. We comply with the standards set by International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) and have been publishing data since 1985. By offering our robust auditing methodology to the FBX, we hope to provide the framework for the container shipping industry to develop sophisticated risk management tools.”

Freightos Founder and CEO Zvi Schreiber said:

“This exciting endeavour means that the world’s manufacturers, distributors and retailers, and logistic services providers, will for the first time be capable of managing ocean freight rate volatility. Our technology and massive database of multimodal freight rates already power both market intelligence and real-time freight booking and management for over 1,000 carriers and forwarders, as well as over 3,000 shippers. We’re incredibly proud to drive more efficiency to the container freight market, cannot think of a stronger partner than the Baltic Exchange and the Singapore Exchange, and are looking forward to the future financial instruments that this index unlocks.”

The FBX represents ocean freight prices, including all ocean surcharges (BAF, CAF, SCS, PCS, PSS, WRS). Market intelligence on port and inland charges are available separately. FBX is published weekly on Sundays and represents the price of the previous week (Sunday through Saturday). Prices used in the index are rolling short term Freight All Kind (FAK) spot tariffs between carriers, freight forwarders and high-volume shippers. Index values are calculated by taking the median price for all prices on active lanes with weighting by carrier. 50 to 70 million price points are collected every month.

FBX Global Container Index covers the following shipping lanes: