Baltic Sea Freight Index Steady, Vessel Activity Muted
The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, remained flat on Thursday due to muted vessel activity.
The index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, was unchanged at 580 points.
The capesize index rose 11 points to 461 points.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, increased by $67 to $4,207.
The panamax index went up six points to 591 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry 60,000 to 70,000-tonne cargoes of coal or grain, rose $48 to $4,720.
The handysize index fell three points to 379 points while the supramax index shed seven points at 617 points. Handysize and supramax vessels are smaller than capesizes and panamaxes.
(Reporting by Arpan Varghese in Bengaluru, editing by David Evans)
