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Freight Forward News

25 Jan 2023

Iron Ore Shipments Drop 13.1% to Start 2023

2023 has so far been a disappointment for the dry bulk shipping sector, despite hopes that a quick economic recovery in China would boost iron ore demand,. During the first three weeks of the year, iron ore shipments fell 13.1% year on year, the lowest volume since at least 2019, worsening conditions for capesizes. In this period, the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) declined by almost 500 points to 763 on 20 January, its lowest point since June 2020.It is not unusual for the bulk market to cool during the first quarter when demand weakens during the Lunar New Year celebrations.

12 Jul 2021

EEX Launches Dry Freight Index Showing Cost of Carbon

Ā© Denys / Adobe Stock

German energy exchange EEX on Monday launched a zero carbon freight index (ZCFI) which combines the bourse's dry freight and emission permits prices to show operators how accounting for carbon emissions could affect freights.Decarbonization of the shipping value chain is already well underway and will continue to be front and center for ship owners, charterers and financiers in the decade ahead.The ZCFI comes as the European Union is due to unveil climate legislation this week which is likely to include the extension of the EU emissions trading system (ETS) to the maritime sector.As a conseque

14 Oct 2019

Rotterdam Port Joins Noah's Train

The Port of Rotterdam Authority has announced that it has participated in ā€˜Noahā€™s Trainā€™ as part of the Rail Freight Forward (RFF) initiative, a collaborative effort to cut freight transport emissions by 30% by 2030.The longest mobile work of art and ambassador of the RFF initiative, Noahā€™s Train, is an initiative launched by several European railway companies to promote freight transport by rail. Gathered in the Rail Freight Forward coalition, they defend a common goal: reducing the environmental impact of freight transport in Europe.The colourful train with 19 painted wagons arrived at APMT terminal on Rotterdam Maasvlakte following a tour of Katowiceā€¦

23 Feb 2018

All Aboard for Hedge Funds as Trade Tide Lifts Shipping

Ā© leeyiutung / Adobe Stock

Forced to abandon ship after mistiming their investments five years ago, hedge funds are venturing back in a bid to profit from growing global trade flows. Around 90 percent of traded goods by volume are transported by sea and global shipping sectors, including dry bulk, are on course for a recovery this year after a near-decade long crisis, ratings agency S&P said in a report last week. The IMF has forecast GDP growth at 3.9 percent for 2018 and 2019 versus 3.7 percent last year, which analysts say is boosting sentiment for shipping.

31 Jul 2017

Baltic Exchange to Shutter Baltex

The Baltic Exchange will close its freight derivatives platform Baltex at the end of the year after a strategic review, the London-run business said on Monday.   Baltex was launched by the centuries-old Baltic Exchange in June 2011 as the first central electronic marketplace for freight forward agreements, which allow investors to take positions on freight rates at a point in the future.   Singapore Exchange completed its 87 million pound ($114.19 million) acquisition of the Baltic in November last year.   Reporting by Jonathan Saul

14 Oct 2016

Freight Futures Market Avoids Tougher EU Information Disclosures

The European Union's securities markets regulator has dropped proposals to make participants in the multi-billion dollar commodity derivatives market for freight rates disclose knowledge of loading conditions, the Baltic Exchange said. The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published its report on Sept. 30 on its proposals for more disclosure of inside knowledge about commodity derivatives trading to prevent market abuse. ESMA's initial proposals could have meant that a Freight Forward Agreements (FFA) trader with private information related to a commodity to be shipped could have been found to be in breach of disclosure regulations.

09 Nov 2015

Tanker Futures Market Booms as Rates Rally

Freight forward agreement (FFAs) trade rises. The market for hedging oil tanker freight has revived sharply this year to a value of $4.5 billion after years of torpor, with ship owners looking to profit from a freight rally and more energy companies scramble to cover risk, industry sources say. Cheap oil bargain hunters after the price drop and refineries, which have been operating at unusually high levels to meet rising demand, have helped tanker markets experience their best earnings in years after a long period of losses. Rates for crude supertankers have soared in recent weeks to over $100,000 a day - their highest since 2008. In tandemā€¦

29 Jun 2015

Baltic Exchange Eyes Move into Commodities

Baltex reaches breakeven level since start of 2015; Baltic previously faced broker opposition over platform. London's Baltic Exchange is studying a potential foray into commodities and is open to proposals on tie-ups as other exchanges attempt to boost volumes, its chief executive said. Baltex, the Baltic's digital shipping platform, was launched in 2011 as the first central electronic marketplace for freight forward agreements (FFAs), which allow investors to take positions on freight rates at a point in the future. Since the beginning of this year, the previously loss making platform, has reached break even levels after Baltex became a venue for presenting block futures at the start of December.

20 Jun 2014

Baltic Exchange, LCH.Clearnet in Ship Tie-Up

London's Baltic Exchange and clearing house LCH.Clearnet are in talks about a tie-up over the Baltic's freight derivatives platform, the two groups said on Friday. Volumes have remained low on the loss-making Baltex multilateral trading facility since it started in June 2011. It is the first central electronic marketplace for freight forward agreements (FFA). "We are finalising arrangements with LCH.Clearnet, which clears about 70 percent of the dry bulk FFA market, to enable them to transform OTC (over-the-counter) derivatives into futures in response to certain rule changes," the Baltic's outgoing chairman Quentin Soanes wrote in the exchange's annual report published on Friday.

10 Dec 2013

Meteo Consult and Amarcon Deliver Routing Software to Maersk Line

Photo: Maersk

The Dutch weather routing software supplier Meteo Consult and Amarcon, have received an order from Maersk Line to equip a minimum of 110 Maersk Line container vessels with SPOS Seakeeping. The Seakeeping plug-in is a feature within Meteo Consults weather routing software SPOS. With this plug-in the user can define vessel loading conditions and motion threshold values based on the input of Amarconā€™s OCTOPUS-Onboard. Amarcon, a fully owned subsidiary of ABB, provides monitoring and forecasting software solutions for performance and availability optimization of sea-going vesselsā€¦

14 Nov 2013

Maersk Orders Routing Software for 110+ Vessels

Emma Maersk

The Dutch weather routing software supplier Meteo Consult and Amarcon, have received an order from Maersk Line to equip a minimum of 110 Maersk Line container vessels with SPOS Seakeeping. The Seakeeping plug-in is a feature within Meteo Consults weather routing software SPOS. With this plug-in the user can define vessel loading conditions and motion threshold values based on the input of Amarconā€™s OCTOPUS-Onboard. Amarcon, a fully owned subsidiary of ABB, provides monitoring and forecasting software solutions for performance and availability optimization of sea-going vesselsā€¦

09 Aug 2011

GFI Group Conducts First "Matching" on EnergyMatch Europe Platform

GFI Group Inc. has conducted the first matching* of dry freight forward freight agreements ā€œFFAsā€ trades on its premier electronic platform EnergyMatch Europe. EnergyMatch Europe is GFI Groupā€™s electronic trading platform for energy and commodities and the market leader for the trading of Dry Freight FFAs. The screen allows for trading in co-mingled markets (co-mingling is the ability to clear trades with different clearing houses) and provides customers with the choice of CCP (Central Counter Party Clearing House) for clearing.

27 Jan 2009

Star Bulk FFA Transactions, Private Placement

Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (Nasdaq: SBLK), a global shipping company focusing on the transportation of dry bulk cargoes announced that the company has sold contracts in the Freight Forward Agreement ("FFA") market on the Capesize index for Calendar 2009 for a total of 360 calendar days with an average rate of approximately $19,900 per day. The Capesize index refers to a modern Capesize dry bulk carrier. The contracts are intended to serve as an approximate hedge for one of the company's Capesize vessels trading in the spot market for 2009, effectively locking-in the approximate amount of revenue that the company expects to receive from such vessel for the period.

10 Nov 2008

TBS Reports 3Q, 9 Mo Results

Joseph E. Royce, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and President of TBS International Limited, stated: "We attribute these record results to the efforts of our worldwide team of shipping professionals delivering our TBS Five Star Service (Ocean Transportation, Logistics, Portside Services, Operations and Strategic Planning) to our global customer base. TBS owns its vessels, deals directly with our clients and presently does not have vessels on long term time charters. "We are in unprecedented times for the global economy and dry cargo shipping industry. The stagnation caused by the crisis in the financial community has interrupted normal trade and reduced cargo movement.

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