Sept 4 (Reuters) – The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index dropped on Friday and recorded its biggest weekly fall since July 24, as capesize and panamax rates slipped further.
* The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities and reflects rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, fell 33 points, or 2.4%, to 1,362 on Friday, dropping 8.5% for the week.
* The capesize index dropped by 59 points, or 2.9%, to 1,960, slipping 11.6% for the week.
* Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport cargoes of 170,000 tonnes to 180,000 tonnes including iron ore and coal, fell $496 to $16,252.
* The panamax index was down 42 points, or 2.7%, at 1,473.
* The index posted a third successive weekly fall, declining 8.9%.
* Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, fell by $375 to $13,260.
* The supramax index slid 5 points to 953. (Reporting by Nakul Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
