Baltic Sea Freight Index up on Higher Capesize Rates
The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose on Tuesday on higher rates for capesize vessels.
The index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, was up three points, or 0.51 percent, at 597 points.
The capesize index rose 13 points, or 2.99 percent, to 448 points.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, rose $85 to $4,292.
The panamax index fell eight points or 1.3 percent to 609 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry 60,000 to 70,000-tonne cargoes of coal or grains, fell $63 to $4,877.
The indexes for relatively smaller vessels -- handysize and supramax -- were up two points at 388 points and five points at 645 points respectively.
(Reporting By Nallur Sethuraman; editing by Susan Thomas)
