Total Gas & Power and Glencore have executed the first LNG freight swap backed by the Baltic Exchange's new LNG index.
The swap between the UK and Swiss companies was facilitated, and announced, by London shipbroker Affinity Wednesday afternoon.
Terms were not disclosed.
"With liquidity increasing in the LNG market in recent years, freight has come under the spotlight as participants look to manage their exposure to vessel spot rates," said Affinity's head of LNG derivatives Benjamin Gibson.
"Using the Baltic Exchange's rate assessments we are able to help clients benchmark their freight exposure and develop a forward market for hedging price risk."
The Baltic Exchange went live with its LNG index 26 March after piloting since July.
The only current route fully live runs between Gladstone and Tokyo and assumes a 160,000-cbm, tri-fuel diesel-electric LNG carrier of a maximum 20 years old.
Tuesday, the day for which the most recent data was available, the index was up 3,229 to $54,490.
The Baltic Exchange is also piloting two other routes with the same ship profile, both from the Sabine Pass in Louisiana, the first to the UK's Isle of Grain and the second to Tokyo.
The only trial route with figures made public is the latter, which was up by 4,302 points Tuesday to $54,886.
"The Baltic has over 30 years of experience of benchmarking freight markets and our LNG assessments are the latest in our suite of shipping market data," said chief executive Mark Jackson.
"We're delighted that this product has been adopted by the market which has recongised the value and quality of our index production process."
