Baltic Sea Freight Index Down on Lower Rates

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, fell on Wednesday, pulled down by a fall in rates across all vessel segments.

The index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, dropped six points to 596 points.

The capesize index shed 12 points to 463 points.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, fell $110 to $4,305.

The panamax index fell two points to 596 points.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry 60,000 to 70,000-tonne cargoes of coal or grain, decreased by $18 to $4,762.

While the handysize index fell three points to 389 points, the supramax index was down four points at 646 points. Handysize and supramax are smaller than capesize and panamaxes vessels.

Reporting by Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru