According to a Reuters report, the Baltic Exchange announced on 26 April that it will offer new products and services to enhance its role in the maritime industry.
In 2017, the Exchange aims to provide more freight market benchmarks and move into the LNG and container spaces, as well as becoming more involved supporting its members in post-trading activities.
The Exchange, along with its parent company the Singapore Exchange (SGX), plans to develop a freight LNG index to support its spot LNG pricing and Singapore's ambitions of becoming a regional natural gas hub.
On the regulatory side, the Exchange said it intends to provide greater clarity on the role of the shipbroker and raise global freight trading standards.
The Exchange also announced changes to its data policy to enhance the role of its so-called panellists, or shipbrokers that contribute market levels for its indexes, and tighten non-authorised access to its data.