Image Source: Container Freight Index
For the first time ever, daily spot ocean freight rate indices for 40-foot containers) are now available via the Baltic Exchange and the Freightos Group, adding real-time, transparent price discovery and risk mitigation into the container freight market that powers global trade. The Freightos Baltic Index has been produced weekly since April 2018 by digital freight platform Freightos, based off of live pricing data from hundreds of global logistics providers.
The Freightos Baltic Index differentiates by providing daily update frequency sourced from live data. As announced today at FreighTech 2020, these daily indices are now overseen by the Baltic Exchange, complying with the Principles for Financial Benchmarks set by the International Organization of Securities Commissions. These rules are designed to ensure benchmark quality, integrity, continuity and reliability.
The Baltic Exchange, which already manages a diverse range of benchmarks for the global shipping markets, is also in the process of applying for Benchmark Administrator status with the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority.
Covering 12 key trade lanes and based on real data via Freightos and its live digital freight platform, the rates are rolling short term Freight All Kind (FAK) spot tariffs and related surcharges between carriers, freight forwarders and high-volume shippers. The FBX index is a weighted average of its underlying regional route indices. Each individual index trade lane is represented by five to seven of the major ports of each region. Together, this data unlocks the potential to control pricing volatility and will be the foundation for ocean pricing’s evolution towards index-linked contracts.
