Baltic Dry Bulk Index Dips on Weak Demand

Posted by Joseph Keefe May 4, 2016

The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, continued to dip on Wednesday due to sluggish demand across vessel segments.

The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, fell 30 points, or 4.4 percent at 652 points.

Shipping activity is expected to remain thin for the week due to the upcoming holidays in Japan and Korea, ship brokerage firm Clarksons Platou Securities said in a note on Tuesday.

The capesize index fell 101 points, or 9.57 percent to 954 points.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, decreased $891 to $7,418.

The panamax index was down 19 points or about 3 percent at 621 points.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, fell $146 at $4,963 on Wednesday.

Among smaller vessels, the handysize index slipped three points to 365 points, while the supramax index remained flat at 583 points.