The Baltic Exchange team once again made their presence felt at this year’s Posidonia shipping week in Athens, Greece, which brings thousands of members of the maritime community together at one of the industry’s leading shipping centres.

You can see the pictures from the event here.

Despite the very strong June heat, more than 150 Baltic members, friends and guests came together for the fully booked Baltic Exchange Risk Forum at The Margi Hotel in Vougliameni to learn more about everything the Baltic Exchange offers the maritime community, alongside a series of panel discussions that delved into some of the key challenges facing shipping players currently.

Following a well-enjoyed coffee and pastry start to the day, the forum was kick started by Mark Jackson, CEO of Baltic Exchange, who provided a run through of the ongoing activities and services available to members, with a particular focus on some of the newer offerings such as the Baltic Investor Indices, the Baltic Emissions Calculator and the social calendar available to members.

Mark then led the opening panel discussion, which discussed some of the key industry trends impacting the dry, tanker and gas sectors. Speakers on the panel included Angelica Kemene, Head of Market Analysis and Decarbonisation Strategies at Optimia Shipping Services; Nikolas Zannikos, Senior Analysis at AXS Marine; and Mary Melton, Freight Analysis at Vortexa. One of the leading topics of conversation was the changing dynamics of shipping norms over the past few years, with weather-related and geopolitical challenges impacting freight rates and voyage routes.

Stephen Aitchinson, Senior Freight Market Assessor at Baltic Exchange, then presented a session on the production aspect of the Baltic’s indexes, followed by a session focused on understanding the changes the Baltic Exchange has made to its indexes over the years. These two sessions drew a number of interesting questions from attendees as members of the Baltic team provided a deep dive into the behind-the-scenes of its indexes.

Following this, a panel discussing the FFA Freight market was held, hosted by Nadia Marza, Business Development at Baltic Exchange, with speakers including Phoebus Kaloudis, Head of Business Development at SSY; and John Banaszkiewicz, CEO and Founder of Freight Investor Services (FIS). The panel looked at some of the market trends impacting the FFA market, which has seen an uptick in recent years on certain routes.

The final session of the forum was hosted by Martin Crawford-Brunt, Emissions Lead of Baltic Exchange, which looked at the implications of trading mechanisms in new emissions regulations, including CII, EU ETS and FuelEU. Joining Martin on the panel was Linda Kongerslev, Director at Oldendorff Carriers; Toby Forrest, Head of Chartering & Shipping Ops at Pavilion Energy; and Captain Philip Bacon, Vice-President of Operations at Siem Shipping. Just as earlier in the forum, the session provided a lot of discussion in the room amongst attendees as many ship owners and charterers look to include the cost of emissions regulations into their chartering costs.

After a nearly two-and-a-half hour-long session, attendees then enjoyed a well-deserved lunch break underneath the beautiful warmth of the Greek sun, with many attendees having the opportunity to network and enjoy the opportunity to continue the discussion of everything discussed at the Baltic Risk Forum, alongside the chance to gather at Posidonia once again.