Trading Statistics February 2009

Freight Derivatives Trade Value Up 29% on January

The underlying value of maritime freight derivatives transactions concluded in February rose 29 % on the previous month to USD 688 million, while the trade volume was up 5 % to 34 758 lots

Tanker and Dry Bulk Derivatives

 The freight options volume was 5 135 lots, up 53 % from February 2008. The tanker futures volume was 15 625 lots in February, up 17 % from the same month last year. The dry bulk futures volume was 13 998 lots, down 21 % from the same period in 2008, but up 102 % from January 2009. Dry bulk freight rates rose sharply. This can be illustrated by the Baltic Exchange Dry Index for spot rates, which was 1 070 at the end of January and 1 986 at the end of February 2009.

 Freight Open Interest

 At the end of January, open interest for dry bulk and tanker futures was 28 372 and 30 451 lots respectively (long only positions). Open interest for freight options was 32 852 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 211, up 9 % in the last 12 months.