Baltic Index Sees Worst Week In 6 Months As Ship Availability Improves
The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index fell for a fourth straight session on Friday, driving it to its worst weekly loss in six months on abundant availability of ships in the Atlantic region.
The Baltic index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities, fell 0.5%, or 10 points, to 1,937 points. The index fell 10.7%, worst weekly performance since week-ending Feb. 1.
The index has still more than tripled since February, mainly driven by strong demand for vessels that ship iron ore from Brazil into China.
The capesize index rose 38 points, or 1.1%, to 3,647 points. For the week, capesize index was down 16.7%, its worst since week-ending March 29.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 170,000 tonne-180,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, rose $217 to $27,145.
The panamax index fell 71 points, or 3.3%, to 2,109 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, decreased $562 to $16,869.
The supramax index fell 7 points to 1,005 points.
Source: Reuters
