By David Hodari

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. launched freight futures for liquid natural gas on Monday, having previously announced its intention to do so.

The exchange said a total of 30 lots were traded evenly across the two U.S. dollar-settled futures contracts that use price assessments from price-assessment company Spark Commodities to reflect the shipping of LNG.

The two contracts, which expire in June 2021, were traded by some of the world's largest LNG market participants like Total SE, Gunvor Group Ltd., Vitol Holding BV, and Glencore PLC, the exchange said. Some of those contracts were brokered by shipbroker Clarksons, ICE added.

"The trades on the first day demonstrate the key role [the contracts] will play in allowing participants to now manage freight risk alongside the commodity risk and therefore optimise their global natural gas portfolios," said Gordon Bennett, managing director of utility markets at ICE.

The popularity of trading the LNG market has sharply increased in recent years. As technology for shipping LNG has improved and trade of the commodity has become increasingly common, decadeslong contracts have become increasingly unattractive. Demand has increased for more flexible contracts based on hedging and short-term demand.

The Spark30S Atlantic contract will cover voyages in the Atlantic Ocean between the U.S. and Northwest Europe, while the Spark25S Pacific contract will reflect journeys in the Pacific Ocean between Australia and East Asia. The numbers in each name indicate the number of days it takes LNG vessels to complete return journeys on those routes.

Write to David Hodari at david.hodari@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-23-21 1306ET