Baltic Exchange
Meaning
The Baltic Exchange publishes daily freight assessments for benchmark tanker routes, such as TD3C, which the market uses as reference rates.
Also written as Baltic, Baltic tanker routes, BDTI, BCTI
Baltic Exchange explained
Panels of shipbrokers report their view of the market each day, and the Baltic publishes route assessments in Worldscale and TCE terms along with indices: the Baltic Dirty Tanker Index (BDTI) and Baltic Clean Tanker Index (BCTI). Forward freight agreements settle against these routes.
The route definitions (ship size, cargo and ports) are public. The daily rates are licensed data.
Related terms
TD3C
TD3C is the Baltic Exchange benchmark VLCC route for a 270,000-tonne crude cargo from Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, to Ningbo, China.
TD20
TD20 is the Baltic Exchange benchmark Suezmax route for a 130,000-tonne crude cargo from offshore Bonny, Nigeria, to Rotterdam.
TC2
TC2 is the Baltic Exchange benchmark MR route for a 37,000-tonne clean products cargo from Rotterdam to New York.
Forward freight agreement
A forward freight agreement (FFA) is a cleared derivative that lets owners and charterers hedge future freight rates against a Baltic benchmark route.
Worldscale
Worldscale is the index used to price tanker freight: a route's flat rate is WS 100, and fixtures are agreed as a percentage of it, such as WS 60.