Feb 4 (Reuters) – The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index dropped for the 13th consecutive session on Tuesday as waning demand across vessels and the coronavirus outbreak dampened sentiment.
* The Baltic index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels to ferry dry bulk commodities, fell 13 points, or 2.8%, to 453.
* The capesize index decreased 31 points to a negative 133, a fresh all-time low.
* Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 170,000-180,000 tonne cargoes including iron ore and coal, declined $170 to $3,496.
* Iron ore futures in China fell to their lowest in about three months as investors remained concerned regarding the economic impact of a coronavirus which has led to 427 fatalities globally so far.
* “The recent coronavirus outbreak seems to have brought about another stall in the global economy … while several multinational and local companies have temporarily shut down operations in the country, amongst them, construction sites and steel production facilities,” Allied Shipbroking said in a note on Monday.
* As a result, demand for iron ore has been limited, while severe floods in Brazil last month, a key iron ore producing region, has reduced exports, limiting the availability of cargoes and further limiting activity in the capesize sector, Allied Shipbroking said.
* Heavy rains in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais led to the deaths of 52 people, the state civil defense agency said last week.
* The panamax index dropped 20 points, or 3.7%, to 526.
* Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, dropped $172 to $4,738.
* The supramax index dropped 3 points to 518. (Reporting by Anjishnu Mondal in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
