Baltic Index Slides Further as Demand Woes Continue
The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying industrial commodities, touched a record low for the eighth straight session on Thursday, hurt by a persistent vessel glut and weaker global demand.
The overall index, which gauges the cost of shipping dry bulk cargoes including iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, was down 11 points, or 2.79 percent, at 383 points.
The index has plunged by about 20 percent this year and on Wednesday fell below 400 points for the first on record.
The capesize, panamax and handysize indices also touched record lows on Thursday.
The dry bulk sector has taken a beating from the slowdown in Chinese business at a time when the sector is struggling with huge overcapacity.
The capesize index shed 20 points, or 8.16 percent, to 225 points on Thursday. Average daily earnings for capesize vessels dropped $160 to a record low of $2,941.
Capesizes typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal and have been particularly affected by a fall-off in coal and iron ore demand in China.
The panamax index dropped 11 points to 388 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, fell $85 to $3,103.
(Reporting by Vijaykumar Vedala in Bengaluru)
