Sept 17 (Reuters) – The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index rose on Thursday, buoyed by stronger rates across vessel segments.
* The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities and reflects rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, was up 13 points, or 1%, at 1,294 points.
* “The gap between short and long term contract freight rates on the Trans-Pacific trade lane has never been wider,” the Baltic and International Maritime Council said in a note.
* “The stars are now aligned for carriers to achieve higher long term contract rates.”
* The capesize index rose 25 points, or 1.3%, to 1,914 points.
* Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were up $211 at $15,875.
* The panamax index was up six points, or 0.5%, at 1,305 points.
* Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, increased $56 to $11,748.
* Among smaller vessels, the supramax index rose nine points to 930 points, while the handysize index rose one point to 554 points. (Reporting by Arundhati Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
