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Accuracy of forward freight agreements in forecasting future freight rates

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  • Evangelia Kasimati
  • Nikolaos Veraros

Abstract

Participants in the maritime industry place much interest in the Forward Freight Agreements (FFA/FFAs), being an indispensable tool for hedging shipping freight risk. Our article innovates by directly comparing the FFA predictions with their actual future settlement prices as well as by examining contracts going forward as far as next calendar year. We combine straightforward comparison measurements with cointegration analysis to test for the accuracy and efficiency of the FFA projections. We find that FFAs display limited usefulness in predicting future freights, only slightly superior than simple naïve models. The shorter the contract period and the smaller the vessel the better the forecast. We also find FFAs being relatively good predictors of future market direction but missing the turning points of the market cycles.

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  • Evangelia Kasimati & Nikolaos Veraros, 2018. "Accuracy of forward freight agreements in forecasting future freight rates," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(7), pages 743-756, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:50:y:2018:i:7:p:743-756
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2017.1340573
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    Cited by:

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    4. Gong, Yuting & Li, Kevin X. & Chen, Shu-Ling & Shi, Wenming, 2020. "Contagion risk between the shipping freight and stock markets: Evidence from the recent US-China trade war," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).

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