Whistleblowers Claimed Key Oil Tanker Rate Was Manipulated

The Baltic Exchange offices are seen in the City of London, Britain in this March 2, 2016 file photo. REUTERS/Toby Melville/Files

Oct 30, 2026 (Bloomberg) –The Baltic Exchange has received two whistleblowing claims of attempted manipulation of the world’s benchmark tanker rate since the beginning of the war in Iran, according to documents made public as part of a major legal battle with trading house Mercuria Energy Group.

The manipulation allegations are likely to heap further scrutiny on the rate, known as TD3C, which is the world’s most important benchmark for the cost of chartering oil tankers and on which billions of dollars of derivatives and other contracts depend.

In the legal case, hearings for which began in London this week, Mercuria is arguing that the Baltic should have suspended the TD3C rate from Saudi Arabia to China after the war in Iran broke out this year. So far, while Mercuria has argued that the TD3C index was not representative of reality, it hasn’t made any suggestion that it was being manipulated.

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