Guide to Freightos Baltic Global

Container Index™ (FBX)

Version 1 – December 2019
1. Introduction
This Guide is built on the Baltic Exchange’s 30 years of experience in the field of
benchmarking. It reflects recent developments in the markets and it ensures
compliance with the Principles for Financial Benchmarks issued by the International
Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), and the European Benchmark
Regulation issued by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).
The Freightos Baltic Global Container Index™ (“FBX”) is a set of indexes that reflect
ocean container transport spot freight rates across 12 global tradelanes. It is jointly
created by the Freightos and the Baltic Exchange.
Freightos makes global trade frictionless with the world’s online marketplace for the
trillion-dollar international shipping industry. The Freightos Marketplace helps
importers and exporters assess logistics spend and save time with instant comparison,
booking and management of air, ocean and land shipments from top logistics
providers. Freightos AcceleRate™ and Freightos WebCargo™ also power rate
management, automated pricing, and online freight sales for logistics service providers
and carriers. Through its Freightos Marketplace and Freightos AcceleRate™ services,
Freightos has a global database of multimodal freight rates, providing accuracy and
reliability of data underlying the FBX.
The Baltic Exchange is the preeminent provider of global freight benchmarks that are
widely used as settlement mechanisms in derivatives and physical markets for billions
of dollars-worth of bulk freight transactions. The Baltic Exchange as a benchmark
administrator ensures that its market benchmarks used for the purposes of settling
financial transactions are produced in accordance with rules which ensure their
accuracy, integrity, continuity and reliability. The Baltic has recognised the importance
of all these aims from the inception of its activity in this field since 1985. By offering its
robust governance and auditing methodology to the FBX, the Baltic Exchange
safeguards the accuracy, robustness and integrity of the FBX and the FBX
determination process.
In accordance with the Principles for Financial Benchmarks and the European
Benchmark Regulation, Freightos is the calculation partner of the FBX (“Calculation
Partner”) and the Baltic Exchange is the benchmark administrator of the FBX
(“Administrator”). Freightos and the Baltic Exchange duly authorize the Baltic FBX
Council (“Council”) as the oversight function who is responsible for providing
independent oversight of the overall functioning of the FBX, in line with the Principles
for Financial Benchmarks and European Benchmark Regulation. The Terms of
Reference of the Council are included in Appendix A of this document.

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2. About the Freightos Baltic Global Container
Index™ (FBX) and its Methodology
The Freightos Baltic Global Container Index™ (“FBX”) is a set of indexes that reflect
ocean container transport spot freight rates across 12 global tradelanes. The value of
individual FBX routes is the median all-in price for a forty foot dry container in a spot
booking with a carrier based on carrier’s rolling tariffs and related surcharges.

Ticker Name Description Weight in Plain English Name

FBX

FBX FBF_FEU_ Freightos Baltic Global container index for N/A FBX Global
GLOBAL 40’ container average price per voyage

Pacific

FBX01 FBX_FEU_ Freightos Baltic China/East Asia to North 207464 China/East Asia - USA West
CEA_NAW America West Coast 40’ container index (20.30%) Coast 40’ (CEA-NAW)

FBX02 FBX_FEU_ Freightos Baltic North America West Coast 99793 (9.76%) USA West Coast - China/East
NAW_CEA to China/East Asia 40’ container index Asia 40’ (NAW-CEA)

FBX03 FBX_FEU_ Freightos Baltic China/East Asia to North 106950 China/East Asia - USA East
CEA_NAE America East Coast 40’ container index (10.46%) Coast 40’ (CEA-NAE)

FBX04 FBX_FEU_ Freightos Baltic North America East Coast 51444 (5.03%) USA East Coast - China/East
NAE_CEA to China/East Asia 40’ container index Asia 40’ (NAE-CEA)

Suez

FBX11 FBX_FEU_ Freightos Baltic China/East Asia to North 176445 China/East Asia - North
CEA_EUR Europe 40’ container index (17.26%) Europe 40’ (CEA-EUR)

FBX12 FBX_FEU_ Freightos Baltic North Europe to China/East 103791 North Europe - China/East
EUR_CEA Asia 40’ container index (10.16%) Asia 40’ (EUR-CEA)

FBX13 FBX_FEU_ Freightos Baltic China/East Asia to 92172 (9.02%) China/East Asia -
CEA_MED Mediterranean 40’ container index Mediterranean 40’ (CEA-EUR)

FBX14 FBX_FEU_ Freightos Baltic Mediterranean to 54219 (5.31%) Mediterranean - China/East

MED_CEA China/East Asia 40’ container index Asia 40’ (EUR-CEA)

Atlantic

FBX21 FBX_FEU_ Freightos Baltic North America East Coast 27306 (2.67%) USA East Coast - Europe 40’
NAE_EUR to Europe 40’ container index (NAE-EUR)

FBX22 FBX_FEU_ Freightos Baltic Europe to North America 56219 (5.50%) Europe - USA East Coast 40’
EUR_NAE East Coast 40’ container index (EUR-NAE)

FBX24 FBX_FEU_ Freightos Baltic Europe to South America 18124 (1.77%) Europe - South American East
EUR_SAE East Coast 40’ container index Coast 40’ (EUR-SAE)

FBX26 FBX_FEU_ Freightos Baltic Europe to South America 28257 (2.76%) South American West Coast -
EUR_SAW West Coast 40’ container index Europe 40’ (SAE-EUR)

2.1. Charges included

FBX is available for Port to Port (CY-CY) prices based on a 40’ (non-refrigerated)
container.

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2.2. CY-CY Prices
P2P prices including all charges for CY-CY service (container yard - container yard,
aka P2P - port to port) include the ocean freight and the associated seaborne
surcharge.
Included charges (where applicable are):
● BAF - Bunker Adjustment Factor
● FAF - Fuel Adjustment Factor
● LSS - Low Sulphur Surcharge
● EBS - Emergency Bunker Surcharge
● EBA - Emergency Bunker Additional
● CAF - Currency Adjustment Factor
● PSS - Peak Season Surcharge
● WRS - War Risk Surcharge
● PCS - Port Congestion Surcharge
● SCF/SCS - Suez Canal Fee / Surcharge / Transit Fee
● PCC/PTF - Panama Canal Charge / Transit Fee

CY-CY prices do not include origin or destination port charges or import customs.

2.3. Commodities
FBX is calculated for “Freight All Kinds” / “General Merchandise” (GDSM/FAK)
commodities including commodities that are clearly translations or equivalent to FAK
or tariffs where no commodity is specified.

2.4. Pooled price points

FBX is calculated using the Buy Rates Ocean Carriers offer to large Freight
Forwarders, or NVOCCs, or large shippers (BCOs) who are using the Freightos
Applications*.

FBX calculation includes only tariff prices offered by Carriers to large Freight
Forwarders.

In the event there are fewer than 10 data points from Forwarders on any given lane,
the calculation will include prices offered by Carriers to large enterprise shippers
(BCOs).

*Freight Forwarders using all solutions offered by Freightos and its subsidiaries
(current and future) have consented Freightos to using anonymised statistical
aggregates of their data.

Please see Appendix E (Waterfall Methodology) for further explanation.

2.5. Tradelane index calculation

Tradelane index values are based on all respective port pair prices current during the
week (Sunday-Saturday). There are two stages to the calculation. First, a median

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value is calculated for each of the top five carriers on the tradelane and for a sixth
group covering all other carriers on that tradelane. Then, a weighted average is
calculated; the weighting reflecting each group’s volume of container shipping on that
tradelane.

Given a tradelane L serviced by carriers C1, C2, ... , Cn in descending order of volume
on the tradelane, with annual volumes (in TEU) of V1, V2, …, Vn. And given Median(L,
Ci,...,Cj) being the median price for Carriers Ci,...,Cj on the tradelane L, then FBX
value for tradelane L is calculated as:

∑5𝑖=1 (𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛(𝐿, 𝐶𝑖) × 𝑉𝑖) + 𝑀𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑛(𝐿, 𝐶6, . . . , 𝐶𝑛) × ∑𝑛𝑖=6 𝑉𝑖

∑𝑛𝑖=1 𝑉𝑖

Should a tradelane’s top five carrier not have current prices for a given week, their
volume will be removed from the sum of volumes in the denominator for that week.

The resultant numbers are rounded to the nearest integer in the published index.

2.6. Carrier volume information

Carrier volume on tradelanes is provided by Alphaliner based on carrier container
capacity between the tradelane origin region/country(ies) and destination
region/country(ies), as committed capacity and not the actual shipped volume.

2.7. Global index calculation

The FBX Global Container Index FBX is a single top-level index reflecting global trends
in ocean freight prices. It is a weighted average; the weighting for each tradelane being
based on that tradelane’s share of the container traffic across all FBX tradelanes as
provided to Freightos by Alphaliner.

Given the index values of the 12 regional tradelanes (I1,I2,...,I12) and their respective
volumes (V1, V2,...,V12) as listed in Table 1 above, the global FBX index value is
calculated as:

∑12
𝑖=1 𝐼𝑖 × 𝑉𝑖
12
∑𝑖=1 𝑉𝑖
Further explanation can be found in Appendices D and E.

2.8. Schedule
The daily index is published in a "sliding window" containing the relevant data that
are effective and not expired from 00:00 UTC on the day before publication to 24:00
UTC on the day of publication, meaning 48 hours in total starting from 00:00
yesterday. Only the most recent rates created or modified within the last 3 months
and valid during the last seven days, will be included (in practice on most trade lanes
rates are volatile and almost all rates are much newer than 3 months). At 6 UTC
each weekday i.e. 6 hours after the daily cutoff of 24:00 UTC the FBX generation
algorithm is run to calculate FBX and produce accompanying reports.

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The weekly FBX Index is published on Sundays at 12 noon UTC for the preceding
week since February 2017.

2.9. Regions and Ports

See Appendix C for the list of regions and ports.

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3. Governance Framework
3.1. Roles and responsibilities the Baltic Exchange as benchmark administrator
The Administrator is responsible for maintaining governance framework which
includes core decision making functions related to the creation, management and
distribution of the FBX. The purpose is to ensure that the FBX is produced in a fashion
that is in line with stated methodologies, policies and procedures. It also reviews
internal controls for the identification, disclosure, prevention and management of
conflicts of interest and to mitigate general risks associated with the FBX and the FBX
determination process.

3.2. Key areas pertinent to benchmark administration

3.2.1 Control Framework. The Administrator shall ensure that a control framework and
standard operating procedures (in so far as standing operating procedures are
relevant and raised to the administrator for attention) are in place that support the
calculation and maintenance of indices on an ongoing basis, as well as reviewing the
incidents and exceptions register and setting recommendations for control
improvements.

3.2.2 Sufficiency of Inputs. The Administrator shall review the adequacy of data inputs
periodically and as and when required, and recommend a course of action to ensure
that the FBX is reliably representative of their underlying market and that the FBX is
not unduly impacted by the possibility of a lack of data in any way.

3.2.3 Review Key Judgments in Index Determination. In the event of potential

interruption to index determination, the Administrator and Calculation Partner may
have limited time to take action depending on its analysis of the circumstances
pertaining at that time. Such events may include but are not limited to insufficient data
during times of market stress, or critical infrastructure failure, or where the FBX
methodology and criteria is not appropriate in addressing particular scenarios
adequately, or where the prescriptive application of rules may be disruptive to the
market. The Administrator and Calculation Partner shall review and agree on any key
judgments, including possible course of action through policy change, to be made in
such events.

3.2.4 Complaints Register. The Administrator shall review the complaints register, as
required, and ensure it is in line with the terms of the FBX Complaints Handling Policy
in Appendix B of this document.

3.2.5 Index Methodology Review. The Administrator shall conduct a formal review of
the relevance of the FBX methodology on an annual basis with the Baltic FBX Council
and sign off on any proposed changes to index methodology. The Calculation Partner
will be responsible for providing items for the methodology review, which will include
but may not be limited to such items as index management feedback and feedback
from external index stakeholders. Further to the methodology review of existing
indices, the Administrator will also review new methodologies, which will be presented
by the Calculation Partner. Prior to the launch of any new indices, the Calculation
Partner will present the rationale for any new proposed index methodology, including
any supporting documentation from a market consultation. The Administrator may

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choose to instruct the Calculation Partner to consider further alternatives for
consideration before a formal sign-off is granted.

3.2.6 Third Party Risk Assessment. Periodic review of third party vendors that are
involved in the benchmark determination process with reference to documented risk
assessment for third parties, where any issues and items for follow-up are then to be
resolved by the Administrator and the Calculation Partner.

3.2.7 Management of conflicts of interests. All conflict of interest, including any

operational and technical issues concerning determination or provision of the FBX
shall be reported to the Administrator. The Administrator shall investigate all reported
cases of conflicts of interest and decide on suitable mitigation actions if and when
necessary.

3.2.8 Audits & Quality control

The Calculating Agent shall run daily checks on the data entered to produce the index
to identify and address any anomalies. The calculating agent shall have in place an
adequate due diligence process to be undertaken to ensure the data entered is valid
on daily basis.

The calculating agent shall have in place appropriate reporting lines and designated
individuals at the appropriate level of seniority, who are responsible for the oversight
of daily calculations.

On daily basis, the production reports are checked for anomalies. On weekly basis,
the calculating agent determines if any changes need to be made. The team involved
constitutes of a data scientist, a senior project manager and the vice president of
indices and markets.

3.3. Roles and Responsibilities of Baltic FBX Council as oversight function

In line with the Principles for Financial Benchmarks and European Benchmark
Regulation, Freightos and the Baltic Exchange duly authorizes the Baltic FBX Council
(“Council”) as the oversight function responsible for independently reviewing the
overall functioning of the FBX and the FBX determination process. The Council shall
consist of a balanced representation of stakeholders. As such, the Council is
functionally separate from the Administrator. The Terms of Reference of the Council
are included in Appendix A of this document.

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Appendix A

Terms of Reference of the Baltic FBX Council

1. Role and Responsibilities of the Baltic FBX Council as Oversight Function

1.1. The Freightos Baltic Global Container Index™ (“FBX”) is a set of indexes that
reflect ocean container transport spot freight rates across 12 global tradelanes.
It is jointly created by the Freightos and the Baltic Exchange. In accordance with
the Principles for Financial Benchmarks and the European Benchmark
Regulation, Freightos is the calculation partner of the FBX (“Calculation Partner”)
and the Baltic Exchange is the benchmark administrator of the FBX
(“Administrator”).

1.2. Freightos and the Baltic Exchange duly authorize the Baltic FBX Council
(“Council”) as the oversight function responsible for independently reviewing the
overall functioning of the FBX and the FBX determination process.

1.3. The Council shall consist of a balanced representation of stakeholders. As such,

the Council is functionally separate from the Baltic Exchange as the index
administrator. It shall assist the Baltic Exchange and Freightos by formulating
and putting forward recommendations about any aspect of the FBX.

1.4. In particular, the Council shall:

a. assist the Administrator in conducting annual reviews of methodologies of

the FBX;

b. oversee any proposed changes to benchmark methodologies and be able

to request the Administrator to consult on such changes;

c. oversee the FBX control framework, the management and operation of the
benchmark;

d. assess internal and external audits or reviews, and monitor the

implementation of remedial actions, if identified;

e. review and approve FBX cessation methodologies;

f. receive and investigate reports about any suspected or actual conflicts of

interests;

g. oversee the adherence to published methodologies;

h. formulate recommendations to the Administrator;

i. submit notifications to the relevant competent authority in accordance with

section 3.6 of this Terms of Reference; and

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 j. if and when necessary, challenge decisions of the Administrator in
accordance with procedure set out in section 4 of this Terms of Reference.

2. Membership and selection criteria

2.1. The Council shall be composed of [five (5)] members, representing internal and
external stakeholders of the FBX, including but not limited to representatives
using the FBX benchmarks or representatives of input data sources.

2.2. All members of Council shall be selected on the basis of the following criteria:

a. qualifications and professional experience demonstrating appropriate

knowledge of the index business, the freight business and/or regulatory
environment governing its functioning;

b. capacity to formulate independent judgments and argumentation;

c. diversity to ensure representation of stakeholders of the FBX (if

applicable);

d. availability to meet the time commitments required; and

e. lack of administrative or criminal convictions in respect of a person’s

activity in the area of financial services.

2.3. The Administrator shall nominate members of the Council for a three-year
renewable term. Members of the Council shall inform the Administrator
immediately of reasons adversely affecting his or her capacity to perform this role
or any other reason not allowing him or her to continue act in capacity of the
Council member. In such situations, the Administrator shall remove the individual
from his or her role on the Council and nominate his or her replacement.

2.4. The Administrator may also remove a member of the Council when the individual
fails to perform his or her obligations stemming from participation in the Council
or otherwise violates any relevant policies or procedures. There are no
restrictions or limitations in the number of times a member of the Council can be
re-nominated onto the Council.

2.5. Membership of the Council for each benchmark may be included in publically
available documents setting out methodology of a given benchmark.

3. Rules of proceedings

3.1. Frequency and attendance of meetings

a. The Council shall convene for regular meetings twice per year. Any
member of the Council may request an extraordinary meeting by
submitting at least one-week written notice to all members. If and when

10
 appropriate, members of the Council may invite observers to attend the
meetings. The observers shall be selected from individuals with specific
knowledge or experience in relation to the benchmark provision process
that allows them to contribute to the council proceedings.

b. Attendance in meetings may be by being present in-person or by

participating via e-communication links (video or teleconference).

c. The Council may deal with matters by way of a circular resolution in writing,
in lieu of convening a formal meeting. The circular resolution shall be as
valid and effectual as if it has been passed by a meeting of the Council
duly convened. Circular Resolutions signed by all the members shall be
valid and effective as if it had been passed at a meeting of the Council.

3.2. Quorum

a. The quorum for the Council meetings shall be at least [three (3)] of
members present at the meeting. If and when the meeting of a Council is
attended by one or more observers, such observer(s) shall not be counted
for the purposes of the quorum.

3.3. Proceedings and decision-making

a. Members of the Council shall take decision by simple majority (50%+1) of

votes cast. In case of a deadlock, the Chairman of the Council has the right
to cast a tie-breaking vote. If and when a council meeting is attended by
one or more observer, such observer(s) shall not have the voting power.

b. All decisions of Council must be documented in writing and communicated

to the Administrator with no delay.

c. The Council members have duty to disclose conflict of interests at the

beginning of a meeting when the relevant agenda item is due to be
discussed. In such situation, a member shall withhold from participating in
a discussion concerning a given benchmark and from decision-making.
Such disclosure must be duly recorded in the minutes of the meeting.

3.4. Dispute resolution

a. Any dispute between the members of the Council shall be resolved on a

consensus basis. All such proceedings shall be duly recorded in the
minutes of the council meetings.

3.5. Access to documents

a. The Council must have access to relevant documentation concerning

benchmark that are subject to supervision. The Council may request the
Administrator for access to such documentation at any time (including
minutes of the meetings, copies of decisions taken, and other). Such

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 documentation shall be provided within five (5) working days following the
receipt of request from the Council.

3.6. Notification to the competent authority

a. The Council shall notify to the relevant competent authority responsible for
the supervision of FBX index administration business of all identified cases
of suspected misconduct of the Administrator in respect of benchmark
provision process that would constitute infringement of any applicable law
or regulation (including, but not limited to, market abuse laws). To the
extent possible, such notification shall be accompanied by material
evidence of suspected misconduct.

3.7. Confidentiality and non-disclosure

a. All members of the Council shall sign a non-disclosure agreement

preventing them from improper disclosure of confidential or sensitive
information received, produced or discussed in the course of the Council
proceedings.

4. Cooperation with the Administrator

4.1. The Council shall keep the Administrator informed of its proceedings on a regular
basis. If and when the Council decides as necessary to challenge one or more
decisions of the Administrator in respect of a benchmark subject to oversight, it
shall adopt a written resolution to this end in accordance with the suitable
decision-making process as set out in section 3.3. of these Terms of Reference
and it shall submit the written resolution to the Administrator with no delay.

4.2. The Administrator shall respond in writing within 10 working days and explain if
and how it intends to address the concerns raised by the Council. Following
receipt of the written response, the Council may request an extraordinary meeting
with the Administrator to further discuss the matter and address any additional
concerns. The Administrator and the Council shall seek to resolve all potential
disagreements in respect of decisions concerning benchmark administration or
governance in smooth and cooperative manner.

4.3. When the Council becomes aware that the Administrator has acted or intends to
act contrary to its recommendations, it shall keep written record of this fact.

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Appendix B

FBX Complaints Handling Policy

1. Introduction
This document is designed to set out the Administrator’s compliance pursuant to
Article 9 of the European Benchmark Regulation (“BMR”) and Principle 16 of the
International Organisation of Securities Commissions (“IOSCO”) principles for
Financial Benchmarks.

2. Scope of the Benchmark Complaints Handling Policy

The Administrator takes all queries, informal comments and a formal complaint
seriously whilst striving to resolve them satisfactorily and as quickly as possible. This
document sets out the procedure the Administrator shall follow in the event of an
informal comment or formal complaint being received in relation to the determination
of the FBX.

The Benchmark Complaints Handling Policy is designed to set out:

a. Submission process for an informal comment;

b. Receiving and investigating an informal comment;

c. Submission process for a formal complaint;

d. Receiving and investigating a formal complaint; and

e. Record keeping of Complaints

The purpose of the Benchmark Complaints Handling Policy is to:

a. Provide a written summary of the procedures by which Complainants may

submit complaints; and

b. Document and make available information as to how the Administrator’s

internal procedures are designed to achieve a reasonable and prompt
handling of Complaints together with the Administrator’s obligations to
handle and seek to resolve relevant Complaints whilst ensuring
compliance with the BMR and IOSCO principles for financial benchmarks.

3. Submission process for an informal comment

Informal comments or queries may be handled more efficiently by liaising with the
Administrator by emailing to complaint@balticexchange.com. Such informal
comments or queries will be resolved pursuant to Section 4 below.

4. Receiving and investigating an informal comment

Upon receiving an informal comment or query, the Administrator will consider the
nature of the comment and assess the merit fairly and if necessary, liaise with the
Council for assistance. The Administrator will provide a response and shall endeavour

13
to do so in a timely manner. They will also consider if an escalation of the informal
comment is required.

If the informal comment is not addressed to the satisfaction of the Complainant then
the Complainant will be provided with information setting out how to initiate a formal
complaint pursuant to Section 5 below, should the Complainant find it necessary to do
so.

5. Submission process for a formal complaint

Although a formal complaint can be made by any reasonable means, the Administrator
notes that a formal complaint should be addressed to “The Baltic Exchange
Compliance Department”, clearly marked “complaint” on the communication, and
delivered:

a. By email to complaint@balticexchange.com ; or

b. By post to: The Baltic Exchange Limited

Complaints
38 St Mary Axe
London EC3A 8BH

A formal complaint shall include:

a. The contact details of the Complainant (including full name, address,

telephone number and a valid email address);

b. The company name of the Complainant;

c. The nature of the formal complaint;

d. A detailed description of the issue or concern;

e. Whether the formal complaint refers to the Baltic Exchange’s role as the
Administrator;

f. The details of the relevant index/benchmark;

g. The date of the incident if applicable; and

h. The date of the formal complaint.

If any of the information required above is missing, the Administrator may not be able
to fully assess a formal complaint. In such circumstances, the Administrator may
contact the Complainant to request further information. If the Administrator does not
deem a submitted query or dispute to rise to the level of a formal complaint, the
Administrator may contact the Complainant to discuss the matter.

6. Obligations to the Complainant submitting a formal complaint

A formal complaint may relate to any aspect of the FBX determination process. The
Administrator shall ensure:

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 a. All investigations of a formal complaint made by a Complainant to the
Administrator shall be handled in a fair and timely manner;

b. The investigation of a formal complaint shall be conducted by parties

independent of those involved in the subject of the complaint;

c. Resolution of the formal complaint shall be communicated to the

Complainant, once the Administrator’s decision has been made; and

d. No formal complaint shall be closed without the Complainant confirming

that it has been properly addressed in accordance with the FBX
Complaints Handling Policy.

7. Procedure for receiving and investigating a formal complaint

Upon receiving a formal complaint, the compliance department of the Administrator
will address the formal complaint and shall investigate, assess fairly, consistently, and
promptly:

a. The subject matter of a formal complaint;

b. Whether the formal complaint should be upheld; and

c. The final resolution determined.

When making the above assessments, the Administrator shall take into account all
relevant factors including but not limited to:

a. All evidence available and the particular circumstances of the formal

complaint;

b. Similarities with any other formal complaint received by the Administrator;

and

c. Relevant guidance published by any relevant Regulatory Authority.

The resolution time for a formal complaint will vary according to the nature of the issue
and the level of investigation it may require. In the Administrator receiving and
investigating a formal complaint, the Administrator shall:

a. Investigate the complaint competently, diligently and impartially, obtaining

all additional information as deemed necessary;

b. Send the Complainant a prompt written acknowledgment of receipt of a

formal complaint; and

c. Provide regular updates as to the status of the issue and anticipated

timescale to resolution; and

d. Provide the Complainant a final or other response within the anticipated

timescale.

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Following an investigation of a formal complaint, the Administrator shall:

a. Explain in writing to the Complainant promptly and, in a way that is fair,

clear and not misleading, the Administrator’s assessment of the formal
complaint and its decision on the formal complaint; and

b. Contact the Complainant to ensure that they have understood the

assessment and are satisfied that the formal complaint has been
investigated and properly addressed in accordance to this policy.

8. Escalation of a formal complaint

In the event that the Complainant disagrees with the decision, the issue will be
escalated to the Baltic FBX Council for investigation. The decision of Baltic FBX
Council shall be final and the Complainant shall be notified of the outcome.

When the nature of the Complainant’s formal complaint relates to the Administrator,
then the following shall apply:

a. A formal complaint in relation to the Administrator shall be reviewed by the

Baltic FBX Council;

b. The Administrator’s compliance department, if required, shall be consulted

and along with the Baltic FBX Council seek to resolve a formal complaint
in relation to the Administrator, as soon as reasonably practicable; and

c. The Complainant shall be advised of the outcome of its investigations

within a reasonable time period unless such contribution shall be contrary
to BMR.

9. Record Keeping of Complaints

The Administrator shall keep all records and correspondence relating to Complaints
for a period of five years.

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Appendix C

Regions and Ports in FBX Methodology

Region Ports

China / East Asia CNSHA (Shanghai)

CNNGB (Ningbo)
CNYTN (Yantian)
HKHKG (Hong Kong)
TWKHH (Kaohsiung)
KRPUS (Pusan)
JPUKB (Kobe)
VNVUT (Vung Tau)
SGSIN (Singapore)

USLGB - Port of Long Beach

North America West Coast USLAX - Port of Los Angeles
USTIW - Port of Tacoma
USSEA - Port of Seattle
USOAK - Port of Oakland
CAVAN - Vancouver

North America East Coast USEWR (Newark)

USNYC (New York)
USSAV (Savannah)
USCHS (Charlestone)
USORF (Norfolk / Virginia)
USBAL (Baltimore)
USHOU (Houston)

Europe DEHAM (Hamburg)

DEBRE (Bremen)
NLRTM (Rotterdam)
FRLEH (Le Havre)
GBLGP (London Gateway)
BEANR (Antwerp)
ESALG (Algeciras)

South America East Coast BRSSZ (Santos)

BRPNG (Paranagua)
ARBUE (Buenos Aires)
UYMVD (Montevideo)
COCTG (Cartagena)
PAMIT (Manzanillo)

South America West Coast ECGYE (Guayaquil)

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 CLSAI (San Antonio)
PECLL (Callao)
COBUN (Buenaventura)
PEPAI (Paita)

Mediterranean ESVLC (Valencia)

ESALG (Algeciras)
ESBCN (Barcelona)
EGPSD (Port Said)
GRPIR (Pireaus)
TRAMR (Ambarli)
TRIZT (Izmit)
MTMAR (Malta Freeport)
ITGIT (Gioia Tauro)
ITGOA (Genova)
ITSPE (La Spezia)
ILASH (Ashdod)
FRFOS (Fos Sur Mer / Marseilles)

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Appendix D

FBX Outlier Detection Methodology

FBX uses an outlier detection method called Double Median Absolute Deviation
(Double MAD). This method has been developed to address specific challenges in the
distribution of FBX data.

The most widely used methods of finding outliers in one-dimensional data are
Standard Deviation (SD), Percentiles and Median Absolute Deviation (MAD).

The SD method removes any point that is more than two standard deviations from the
mean. However, the presence of outliers is likely to have a strong effect on the mean
and the standard deviation, making this technique unreliable in small samples with
extreme outliers.

The Percentile method removes a specific high/low percentile. This is good when the
distribution can be roughly divided into three groups. When the distribution is just one
bulk of points, the percentile method will cut off valid values.

MAD is a robust measure of variability and is often used to detect outliers. For a given
set of data D = {d1, …, dn}, the deviations are the difference between each value and
median(D). The MAD is then the median of the absolute values of all the deviations.

Container box freight pricing distribution is neither normal or symmetric, this will cause
both SD and MAD strategies to fail; to address this a double MAD methodology is
used.

Double MAD Methodology

FBX combines two different MADs to create upper and lower cutoff points:

1. The MAD from the median of all points less than or equal to the median. This
is used to calculate the distance from the median of all points less than or equal
to the median.

2. The MAD from the median of all points greater than or equal to the median.
This is used to calculate that distance for points that are greater than the
median.

If more than 50% of data have identical values, the MAD is zero. All points in dataset
except those that equal the median will then be flagged as outliers, regardless of the
outlier cutoff. In this case only the median value is kept

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Appendix E

Proposed Waterfall Methodology

In the event of data expiring without replacement, and to avoid a data blackout a
number of steps will be considered:
1. Freightos will extend the time to expiry of the data by seven (7) days
2. Rate expiry prompter. Freightos will alert Forwarders that rates are expiring
without a replacement
3. Freightos will identify the three Freight Forwarders (IFF) most active on the
lane(s) of concern in their system. In the event of an imminent data blackout
they will ask the largest IFF of the three for a quote on the lane(s) of concern.
If the largest FF cannot provide a quote, the second largest will be contacted
etc. In the case of an actual data blackout we will publish the quote obtained.

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