Baltic Freight Index up on Higher Dry Bulk Activity

Reuters - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose on Monday.

The overall index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, rose 19 points to 1,562.

The Baltic's capesize index rose 43 points or 1.4 percent to 3,023 points.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were up $505 at $24,748.

The panamax index increased 13 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,088 points.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry 60,000- to 70,000-tonne cargoes of coal or grains, were up $106 at $8,757.

"Thin vessel availability in the Atlantic and high activity for iron ore in the Pacific helped spur higher (capesize) rates," RS Platou Markets said in a report.

"The clamp down on pollution in China is positive for the dry bulk market as domestic iron ore production is highly pollutive, supporting imports of high quality fines."

(Reporting by NR Sethuraman in Bangalore; Editing by Anthony Barker)