The Baltic Exchange has said it is including chartering deals in its growing escrow service.
The UK company wants to reduce the risk for those involved in fixing ships and expand the pool of potential counterparties.
The exchange said it can support a chartering deal by holding a security sum in a dedicated escrow account.
The cash typically represents a portion of a charter hire amount, which is pre-agreed between a shipowner and charterer, and held as collateral, the freight marketplace explained.
