A brand new benchmark, the Delta Global Shipping Index (Index Ticker: DGAGSI), has already attracted the interest of an exchange-traded funds company. 

The Delta Global Shipping Index has been licensed to Claymore Advisors, which says it plans on launching a global shipping exchange-traded fund. "The creation of the Delta Global Shipping Index stems from the growth of the shipping sector and its maturation in terms of investment depth," said Chip Hanlon, chief executive officer of Delta Global Indices. "The index is meant to provide representative exposure to this important and high-yielding industrial group."

The index, which launched last week, consists of 30 maritime shipping stocks. It was created by a subsidiary of Delta Global Advisors.

The fundamental story behind the index is that in the oil tanker industry, the phasing out of single-hull tankers is scheduled to be complete by 2010, according to Hanlon. He maintains that a strong supply of new ships coming to market is keeping tanker rates relatively well-balanced. On the other hand, a shortage in bulk dry vessels that ship iron ore and other essential commodities is leading to significantly higher shipping rates in this industry.

Delta Global says that even in the context of generally increasing supply in the oil tankers, containers and dry bulk shipper industries, freight rates remain strong—reflecting surging shipping demand and continued economic growth around the globe.

"Not unlike what helped drive the commodity boom in recent years, some of today's remaining shipping bottlenecks result from a lack of new investment in the 1990s. Backlogged demand for increased shipping capacity remains, which continues to give charterers the upper hand in terms of daily shipping rates," said company officials in a statement.

Delta Global's methodology starts by screening for all global publicly traded companies with any connection to the maritime shipping industry. Based on a review of the company's public filings and other public data, maritime firms are considered for inclusion in their index only if they're generating in excess of 80% of their revenues from the operating and/or leasing of seaborne ships which transport dry bulk, tanker, container, specialty chemical or LNG goods.

If more than 30 U.S.-listed securities qualify based on those requirements as well as several liquidity tests, the 30 most liquid of these equities will be included in order of their average daily volumes measured in U.S. dollar terms. Companies eligible for inclusion in the index must have their shares listed on a major stock exchange in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States or the United Kingdom.

Once the 30 index constituents are determined, a modified dividend weighting mechanism is applied to constitute the final index, with higher-yielding securities based on their indicated dividend yield being more highly weighted according to a proprietary methodology created by the Index Provider.

The Delta Global Shipping Index will be reconstituted annually, with rebalancing occurring quarterly.