Tufton Oceanic Ltd., the world's biggest shipping hedge fund, aims to expand 40 percent to more than $1 billion by October.

"The demand is there from investors," Andreas Vergottis, Tufton's research director, said in an interview in London. The fund, which manages $740 million, is being opened again because of growing interest in shipping, after it was closed to investors last April, Vergottis said.

The number of hedge funds dedicated to shipping equities and futures doubled to four in the past year while commodity freight rates shot to record highs.

Tufton exceeded its performance in previous years with a 19 percent return in the past seven months by making "three big bets", Vergottis said. ¿ Bloomberg