The Baltic Exchange, the troubled London-based maritime market place, is to concentrate its efforts on supplying data on the fledgling freight derivatives market in an effort to boost revenues and stem losses.

The decision was made through a strategic review following two years of heavy operating losses at the exchange. The Baltic Exchange's electronic platform, which first launched in August 2001, and which has attracted little interest from the shipping community, will be slimmed down to focus solely on providing the exchange's membership with freight market-related information.