Baltic Dry Index Gains for Third Straight Week

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, gained for the third straight week, helped by higher rates for all vessel segments, largely capesizes.

The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, was up 45 points, or about 3.3%, at 1,424, the highest since late-December 2022, on Friday.

The main index was up about 17.6% for the week.

The capesize index gained 82 points, or about 5%, at 1,744. The index rose about 46% for the week, its third in a row.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, gained $683 at $14,466.

The panamax index was up 30 points, or about 1.9%, at 1,654. It also marked its third straight weekly gain, rising 5.7% for the week.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, rose by $267 to $14,884.

Among smaller vessels, the supramax index rose 29 points to 1,209.

(Reuters - Reporting by Harshit Verma; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)