The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose to its highest in more than two months on Monday as earnings increased across the larger capesize and panamax vessel segments.
The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, rose by 8 points, or 0.6%, to its highest since Oct. 28 at 1,374, on its first day of trading since Dec. 24.
The capesize index edged up 2 points, or about 0.1%, to 2,008, a peak since late-October last year.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were up $23 to $16,656.
China’s coke futures surged more than 4% on Monday, buoyed by tight supply and robust demand, extending a rally that saw prices of the steelmaking ingredient posting uninterrupted monthly gains from May to December last year.
The panamax index was up 39 points, or about 3%, to 1,364, snapping a seven-session streak of losses, marking its highest level since Dec. 21.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, added $346 to $12,272.
The supramax index dropped 11 points to 1,028, its lowest since Dec. 10.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Bharat Govind Gautam in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
