Baltic Index Posts Weekly Fall

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; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)