The Baltic Exchange, which tracks and assesses freight rates, on Monday proposed amending its methodology on all Middle East benchmarks, citing the escalating geopolitical disruption in the Strait of Hormuz and the wider Middle East region, according to a document seen by Reuters and circulated to the market.
The exchange is seeking immediate feedback on a proposal to allow flexibility in the methodology and include a load port or area outside the Middle East gulf region. The option to load at the originally defined port inside the region would continue.
The Baltic Exchange's indices and assessments are used as a settlement tool for freight derivative trades, for benchmarking physical contracts and as a general indicator of the freight markets’ performance.
While the consultation does not remove the risk of a benchmark suspension, it is intended to help mitigate that risk, the Baltic Exchange said.
The Baltic Exchange had in March convened meetings and provided guidance to shipbrokers on how they may assess indices in the absence of direct or physical fixtures. The exchange said then that shipbrokers may consider ongoing negotiations or fixtures on more liquid, closely related or economically comparable routes or time charter equivalent earnings for their assessments.
SP Global Platts, one of the larger providers of price and transaction information on the oil and fuel markets for the industry, did not immediately reply to a request for comment on how any changes to Baltic Exchange methodology would impact its assessments.
(Reporting by Arathy Somasekhar in Houston; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
