It was launched on August 1985 1 and became the freight index futures of dry bulk carrier transportation market. Like general futures products, BIFFEX is used for hedging and price discovery, providing participants with a flexible and convenient way to avoid risks, which clearly shows its superiority over the traditional futures market. However, in the continuous market practice, BIFFEX also has some shortcomings: compared with other futures products, its hedging effect is still low, and the cross-hedging problem leads to low hedging effect; Contract liquidity is poor, the number of transactions is insufficient, and the market cannot attract enough participants; Market participants do not know much about derivatives and are not fully prepared.

1992, Forward Freight Agreement (FFAs) came out, which gradually replaced Baltic international shipping futures trading. Its main advantages are: easy risk management and stable cash flow; The subject matter of the transaction contract can last for 3 years; You can buy and sell freely before the final expiration, which is convenient and fast; Strengthen the function of price discovery and guide the actual transportation market; It is a pure financial product and does not involve actual transportation and delivery; Simple operation and convenient transaction; There is no need to negotiate repeatedly like the spot ship market; There is no spot market sublease.