Aug 18 (Reuters) – The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index fell from a four-week high on Tuesday pressured by lower capesize and panamax vessel rates.
* The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities and reflects rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, fell 12 points, or 0.8%, to 1,586, snapping a fourteen session winning streak.
* The capesize index dropped 25 points, or 1%, to 2,375.
* Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport cargoes of 170,000 tonnes to 180,000 tonnes, including iron ore and coal, were down by $207 at $19,693.
* Iron ore miner BHP Group, expects most major world economies except China to bear the brunt of a coronavirus-led downturn this year, as it reported a more than 4% drop in annual profit.
* The panamax index declined 21 points, or 1.2%, to 1,798.
* Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, fell by $191 to $16,181.
* The supramax index edged 6 points higher to 949. (Reporting by Nakul Iyer in Bengaluru)
