A landmark futures deal is paving the way to make freight-rate risk more manageable in boxship markets, following the closing of the first-ever container derivatives trade on the Singapore Exchange on Tuesday.

The deal was brokered by Braemar Securities, the freight forward agreements (FFA) desk of Braemar Shipping Services group, and was cleared by the Singapore Exchange (SGX).

An unnamed US investment bank sold its June contract for the China/East Asia to northern Europe route at $5,650 per feu, one of the benchmark routes that make up the Freightos Baltic Index (FBX) for container freight.