Intercontinental Exchange , one of the world’s leading providers of financial market technology and data powering global capital markets, announced that it plans to launch four container freight futures covering freight shipping routes between the U.S., Asia and Europe, indexed to the New York Shipping Exchange’s (NYSHEX) Freight Indices (NYFI) price assessments.
The contracts are expected to launch on April 7, 2026, subject to regulatory approval, and are designed to help the market manage container freight risk.
ICE Data Services is the calculation agent to the NYSHEX Indices since 2024, which serve as benchmarks for containerized freight pricing based on actual shipped transactions, with the index applying consistent weighting across verified shipping trade routes.
ICE’s U.S.-denominated cash-settled container freight futures include:
- ICE Container FFA – Asia to US West Coast 40GP/HC (NYFI) Future
- ICE Container FFA – Asia to US East Coast 40GP/HC (NYFI) Future
- ICE Container FFA – Asia to North Europe 40GP/HC (NYFI) Future
- ICE Container FFA – North Europe to US East Coast 40GP/HC (NYFI) Future
“ICE’s new global container freight derivatives are the first of their kind for ICE, providing new tools for risk management in the shipping industry,” said Jeff Barbuto, SVP of Global Oil Markets at ICE. “The contracts will be supported by ICE’s network of extremely liquid energy markets – the largest in the world – providing precise risk management tools to manage volatility across global supply chains.”
“The container shipping industry is massive and critical for global trade, yet it is incredibly volatile. With the launch of ICE’s new freight futures, market participants can far more easily hedge against unexpected swings in the market price,” said Gordon Downes, CEO and co-founder of NYSHEX. “NYFI is the most accurate container freight index because it is based on shipped transactions, this ensures ICE’s futures settle on prices that are actually being paid to ship on the spot market.”
The NYSHEX container freight contracts will join ICE’s global oil markets which include ICE Low Sulphur Gasoil – the global benchmark for middle distillates, marine fuel and high sulphur fuel. ICE’s total oil market is at record open interest of 18.7 million contracts as of February 23, 2026. On February 27, 2026, ICE Wet Freight futures and options markets hit record open interest of 201,000 contracts.
Source: ICE
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