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This paper is intended for exploring the multifractal features of tanker freight rate market volatility with the common external factor of crude oil price by both the multifractal cross-correlation analysis method (MF-CCA) and the multifractal detrended partial cross-correlation analysis method (MF-DPXA) with consideration of finite size effect. The multifractal spectrums of original, random and surrogate time series are employed to separate the three components of multifractality, and to uncover the influence of financial crisis and oil price on volatility and cross-correlated fluctuations of the tanker freight rates. After the financial crisis in terms of the generalized Hurst exponent, stronger non-linear characteristic and noticeable anti-persistent characteristic in cross correlations between freight rates are supported by the MF-DPXA analysis. Meanwhile, stronger multifractality is indicated by the MF-CCA analysis. These results deepen the understanding of multifractality in tanker freight rate market, and provide investors, shipping related operators or even market players with insight to adjust their marketing strategies.

Analysis of freight rate volatility characteristics attracts more attention after year 2008 due to the effect of credit crunch and slowdown in marine transportation. The multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis technique is employed to analyze the time series of Baltic Dry Bulk Freight Rate Index and the market trend of two bulk ship sizes, namely Capesize and Panamax for the period: March 1st 1999–February 26th 2015. In this paper, the degree of the multifractality with different fluctuation sizes is calculated. Besides, multifractal detrending moving average (MF-DMA) counting technique has been developed to quantify the components of multifractal spectrum with the finite-size effect taken into consideration. Numerical results show that both Capesize and Panamax freight rate index time series are of multifractal nature. The origin of multifractality for the bulk freight rate market series is found mostly due to nonlinear correlation.