Trading Statistics December 2008

The monthly maritime freight derivatives volume was up 9 % on December 2007 to 26 306 lots, with the trade value down 56 % to USD 381 million. The annual volume was up 21 % on 2007 to 483 023 lots, with the value up 24 % to USD 18.3 billion.

“We are pleased to note that the December trading volumes in both energy and freight are well ahead of corresponding figures for 2007 and that annual volumes are 21 % in freight compared to 2007. While depressed dry freight rates continue to impact the traded value, we have seen an increase in rates through December and remain confident that 2009 will provide significant opportunities” says Herman W. Michelet, Chief Executive of Imarex.

Tankers and Dry Bulk Derivatives

The tanker futures volume was 12 301 lots in December, down 25 % from the same month last year. The dry bulk futures volume was 10 060 lots, up 59 % from the same period in 2007. The freight options volume was 3 945 lots, up 174 % from December 2007. Dry bulk freight rates have also started rising again. This can be illustrated by the Baltic Dry Index for spot rates, which was 715 at the end of November and 774 at the end of December 2008.

The annual traded value for tanker futures was up 51 % from 2007 to USD 5.3 billion, with the volume up 32 % to 245 774 lots and the number of transactions up 31 % to 16 545. The annual traded value for dry bulk futures was up 40 % from 2007 to USD 10.8 billion, with the volume up 25 % to 185 164 lots and the number of transactions up 80 % to 4 040. The annual traded value for freight options was up 1 % from 2007 to USD 2.2 billion, with the volume down 9 % to 52 085 lots and the number of transactions down 3 % to 607.

Freight Open Interest

At the end of December, open interest for dry bulk and tanker futures was 29 671 and 32 055 lots respectively (long only positions). Open interest for freight options was 31 727 lots. The open interest is the total number of lots which remain to be liquidated by either close-out trades or delivery at NOS Clearing. NOS Clearing counts only long positions. Other clearing houses often count both long and short positions into the open interest.

Freight trading and clearing members

At the end of the reporting month the number of freight derivatives clearing and trading members stood at 207, up 13 % over the year.