The European Energy Exchange (EEX) has reported record dry freight volumes.
The company’s cleared and exchange-traded dry-bulk freight business had its most successful year ever in 2021, breaking the 1m lots threshold for the first time, the company said.
An all-time high of 1,009,017 lots were traded last year, up from 789,921 lots of dry freight derivatives in 2020.
The growth was mainly driven by freight futures. These rose 48% to 890,242 lots, up from 601,503 in the previous year
The new milestone represents five years of organic and inorganic growth in global freight trading by the Leipzig-based clearing house.
Chief executive Peter Reitz said the company had continued to diversify its portfolio in 2021 with a number of initiatives.
These include the launch of a Zero Carbon Freight Index (ZCFI) which helps freight players to better assess the cost of carbon emissions. EEX has since June published a daily “synthetic” freight forward agreement (FFA) rate inclusive of 100% carbon reduction, focused on capesize and panamax FFA’s.
EEX has grown rapidly since entering the freight market in 2016 and is believed to account for more than 40% of the open interest in the dry freight derivatives market.
The Deutsche Borse subsidiary has also expanded its position in other commodity markets.
Reitz said that the company reported significant increases in its power, natural gas, and environmental markets.
“In this dynamic market environment, we have continued to deliver a stable market infrastructure as well as reliable clearing operations to our trading community, while building secure, successful and sustainable markets worldwide,” he said.
