Trading Statistics January 2009

The number of maritime freight derivatives transactions concluded in January rose a sharp 63 % on the previous month, while the trade value was up 40 %. Compared to January 2008, the trading volume was down 33 %, to 33 259 lots.

“We are optimistic for the year ahead – transaction volumes and values have recovered markedly after a slow end to 2008, and we are hopeful that the recovery will continue” says Herman W. Michelet, Chief Executive of Imarex.

Tanker and Dry Bulk Derivatives

The freight options volume was 8 326 lots, up 130 % from January 2008. The tanker futures volume was 18 020 lots in January, down 17 % from the same month last year. The dry bulk futures volume was 6 913 lots, down 71 % from the same period in 2008. Dry bulk freight rates have continued to rise. This can be illustrated by the Baltic Exchange Dry Index for spot rates, which was 774 at the end of 2008 and 1 070 at the end of January 2009.

Freight Open Interest

At the end of January, open interest for dry bulk and tanker futures was 28 056 and 29 716 lots respectively (long only positions). Open interest for freight options was 30 083 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 11 % in the last 12 months.