Baltic Freight Index Falls

 

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, fell on Thursday as weak demand took its toll on vessel rates.

The index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, dropped eight points or 1.34 percent to 588 points.

The capesize index fell nine points to 454 points.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, fell $87 to $4,218.

The panamax index fell seven points to 589 points.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry 60,000 to 70,000-tonne cargoes of coal or grain, decreased by $54 to $4,708.

The handysize index fell three points to 386 points and the supramax index was down 10 points at 636 points. Handysize and supramax are smaller than capesize and panamax vessels.

(Reporting By Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru, editing by David Evans)