Aug 21 (Reuters) – The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index fell on Friday, posting its first weekly fall in four weeks as demand for capesize and panamax vessels dropped.
* The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities and reflects rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, fell 37 points, or 2.4%, to 1,481, ending the week 7.1% lower.
* The capesize index declined 79 points, or 3.5%, to 2,160, lowest in more than three weeks. For the week, the index was down 10.1%.
* Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport cargoes of 170,000 tonnes to 180,000 tonnes including iron ore and coal, fell by $652 to $17,918.
* The panamax index fell 47 points, or 2.8%, to 1,653, and shed 9.4% this week.
* Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, fell by $425 to $14,876.
* The supramax index inched up 5 points to 962. (Reporting by K. Sathya Narayanan in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)
