John Banaszkiewicz, the managing director of Freight Investor Services (FIS), has been elected as Dry Chairman of the Forward Freight Agreement Brokers’ Association (FFABA). He replaces Tasos Spiliopoulos of Simpson Spence Young who served a one year term.

The FFABA is an independent association of 15 FFA broking Baltic Exchange member firms formed in 1997. The Association runs regular forums with the Baltic Exchange to promote FFA trading and bring together market participants.

John Banaszkiewicz said:

“I am delighted to be elected as Chairman of the FFABA. It’s the second time I have held this honour, as I was the inaugural FFABA Chairman in 1996. 20 years is a long time in the rollercoaster freight market; back then we probably traded 200 contracts a year, today we do over 200 trades a day.”

“As it becomes harder to make money trading physical vessels in this market, dry FFAs have become increasingly attractive. We’ve seen a 1400% rise in the Capesize T/C earnings in a month and volumes up 22% this year already. What other market offers that sort of performance?”

He added:

“The FFABA can still be a driving force for this market and especially at this important time for the Baltic Exchange, its members, shareholders and stakeholders. I want the FFABA to contribute to the conversation, to make its voice heard and express its views on all important issues.”