The Baltic Exchange (incorporated as The Baltic Exchange Limited) is a

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for the

maritime industry Maritime transport (or ocean transport) or more generally waterborne transport, is the transport of people (passengers or goods (cargo) via waterways. Freight transport by watercraft has been widely used throughout recorded history, as it pr ...

, and freight market information provider for the trading and settlement of physical and

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contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typically involves consent to transfer of goods, services, money, or promise to transfer any of thos ...

s. Situated since Edwardian times at 24-28 St Mary Axe, London EC3, the building was destroyed by a bomb in 1992. The Baltic Exchange then relocated to 38 St Mary Axe on 15 May 1995, before establishing its

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

at 77 Leadenhall Street in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

as well as further offices in Europe, across Asia, and in the United States.

Overview

Its international community of 650 member companies encompasses the majority of world shipping interests and commits to a code of business conduct overseen by the Baltic Exchange: its members are responsible for a large proportion of all dry cargo and tanker fixtures as well as the sale and purchase of merchant vessels. The Baltic Exchange traces its

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back to 1744 at the ''Virginia and Baltick Coffee House'' on

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, near the Royal Exchange. With the rapid expansion of Britain's network of global trade, London's mercantile coffee houses operated as a maritime commercial node for communication and business. As British influence in trade to

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

began to wane after

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, focus shifted to

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and other emerging markets. Incorporated as a

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with

shares In financial markets, a share (sometimes referred to as stock or equity) is a unit of equity ownership in the capital stock of a corporation. It can refer to units of mutual funds, limited partnerships, and real estate investment trusts. Sha ...

owned by its members on 17 January 1900, the Baltic Exchange was acquired in November 2016 by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) and remains

headquartered Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

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. The

exchange Exchange or exchanged may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Exchange (film), or ''Deep Trap'', 2015 South Korean psychological thriller * Exchanged (film), 2019 Peruvian fantasy comedy * Exchange (TV program), 2021 Sou ...

provides daily freight market prices and maritime shipping cost indices which are used to guide freight traders as to the current level of various global shipping markets, as well as being used to set freight contract rates and settle freight futures (known as Forward Freight Agreements or FFAs). Historically operating on its

trading floor Open outcry is a method of communication between professionals on a stock exchange or futures exchange, typically on a trading floor. It involves shouting and the use of hand signals to transfer information primarily about buy and sell orde ...

, Baltic members' transactions are nowadays primarily conducted via other means of communication (''eg''. telephone, e-mail, instant messaging ''etc''), although face-to-face client meetings remain integral to building trust. The exchange is the source of market-wide information and publishes seven daily indices made up from a suite of wet and dry bench-marked time-charter and voyage routes: * Baltic Dry Index (BDI) * Baltic Panamax Index (BPI) * Baltic Capesize Index (BCI) * Baltic Supramax Index (BSI) * Baltic Handysize Index (BHSI) * Baltic Dirty Tanker Index (BDTI) * Baltic Clean Tanker Index (BCTI) * Baltic LNG Tanker Index (BLNG) In April 2018, the Baltic Exchange announced a global

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index Index (: indexes or indices) may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Index (''A Certain Magical Index''), a character in the light novel series ''A Certain Magical Index'' * The Index, an item on the Halo Array in the ...

called the

Freightos Baltic Index The Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) (also sometimes known as the Freightos Baltic Daily Index or Freightos Baltic Global Container Index) is a daily freight container index issued by the Baltic Exchange and Freightos. The index measures global contai ...

(FBX) in partnership with Freightos. Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) assessments launched in 2019. The exchange also provides forward curves, a dry cargo fixture list, sale and purchase values, LPG & LNG assessments, daily market news, and the market settlement data for freight derivative contracts.

BIFFEX

BIFFEX, the Baltic International Freight Futures Exchange, was a London-based exchange for trading ocean freight futures contracts with settlement based on the Baltic Freight Index. It started trading dry cargo freight futures contracts in 1985, and was modestly successful for some years. All contracts were cleared by the ICCH (International Commodities Clearing House), later renamed London Clearing House and now LCH.Clearnet. A tanker freight futures contract was introduced in 1986, but never became popular and was suspended indefinitely the same year. Volumes in the dry cargo contracts dwindled over the years, and the contracts ceased trading due to lack of liquidity in 2001.

Baltic Exchange management

As of 2025, the Baltic Exchange's management comprises: * Chairman: Guy Hindley * Chief Executive: Mark Jackson * Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary: Mark Read * Chief Commercial Officer: Janet Sykes * Communications Manager: Bill Lines.

Premises

Photo of my engraving of Baltic Exchange London dated 1918

The

was historically located at 24–28 St Mary Axe in the

until it was destroyed in 1992 by a terrorist bomb attack. The grandeur of the Baltic's interior is depicted by Finnemore's

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design on a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ar ...

in 1918 of its Exchange Hall (''ie.''

). Now based at 77 Leadenhall Street, London EC3, the Baltic Exchange has further offices in Europe, Asia, and the United States.

Former chairmen

Past chairmen include: * Frank Emil Fehr (1937-1939)

Notes

References

* *

External links

Official web site: www.balticexchange.com

www.lma.gov.uk
{{Coord, 51.5151, -0.0802, type:landmark_region:GB-LND, display=title 1744 establishments in Great Britain Economy of London Shipping Ship chartering Commodity exchanges Futures exchanges Commodity markets in the United Kingdom Maritime organisations based in the United Kingdom Organisations based in the City of London 2016 mergers and acquisitions