Baltic Index in Third Weekly Fall, Despite Small Rebound

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index rose on Friday, buoyed by an uptick in demand across all vessel segments, but still posted its third straight week of losses.

The Baltic index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities, rose 28 points, or 1.6%, to 1,748 points. The index on Thursday broke a 12-session losing streak, but posted a 2.2% weekly decline on Friday.

The capesize index gained 41 points, or 1.3%, to 3,222 points. The index posted its third straight week of decline, down about 7.7%. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 170,000 tonne-180,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, rose $240 to $24,022.

"The second half of 2019 will be much better than the first half of 2019 as Vale continues to ramp up its iron ore production and exports, and scrubber installations continue to limit fleet availability," Jefferies said in a note. Vale's resumption of production at Brucutu, its largest mine in the state of Minas Gerais, pushed Brazil's iron ore exports to the highest level in nine months in July, data showed last week.

The panamax index gained 59 points, or 3.2%, to 1,898 points, highest in more than a week. The index has risen 6.7% this week, its first weekly gain in three. Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, rose $468 to $15,169.

The supramax index was up 11 points at 970 points.

Reporting by Shreyansi Singh