The Baltic Exchange is a UK company that operates the premier global marketplace for shipbrokers, ship owners, and charterers.
Summary
The Baltic Exchange was founded in the mid-eighteenth century. The first use of the name was at the Virginia and Baltick Coffee House in Threadneedle Street in 1744, and was registered as a private limited company with shares in 1900. Today the exchange is owned by its member companies and is not publically traded on a stock exchange. It is operated by a member-elected Board of Directors.
The exchange provides daily freight market prices and maritime shipping cost indexes, and a freight futures (known as Forward Freight Agreements, or FFA's) market, as well as port information, and serves as a sea-vessel marketplace and a venue for dispute resolution. Originally operating a trading floor , the exchange's transactions are today done solely over the telephone.
The company reportedly employed 32 people as of 2003, and currently reports employing 27.
Their office is located at 30 St Mary Axe in central London, and is also used as a business and social venue.
The exchange publishes six daily indices.
- Baltic Dry Index
- Baltic Panamax Index (BPI)
- Baltic Capesize Index (BCI)
- Baltic Handymax Index (BHMI)
- Baltic Tanker Dirty Index
- Baltic Tanker Clean Index
The bombing
In 1992, The exchange's offices at 30 St Mary Axe were virtually destroyed in an IRA terrorist bomb attack. The historic building, built in 1903 by Smith and Wimble, had been previously listed as a historic building (Grade II*), but was demolished in 1998 with the permission of John Prescott, amidst opposition from architectural conservationists that were favoring reconstruction. Its classic red granite, coloured marble, Portland stone, and much of the original plaster interiors that remained intact are currently stored, in pieces, in wooden crates in a barn near Canterbury, awaiting sale for £750,000.
Current Management
As of November, 2004, the current management includes:
- Chief Executive: Jeremy Penn
- Head of Finance and Company Secretary: Mark Soutter
- Communications: Bill Lines
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