Dry Bulk: Panamax Rally Accelerates

Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, eked out a fourth consecutive week of gains on Friday as lower capesize rates were outweighed by soaring panamax earnings.

The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, fell 53 points, or 1.6%, to 3,285, but still posted a 0.9% rise for the week.

The panamax index rose 32 points, or 0.8%, to 4,269- the highest level since May 2010.

On a weekly basis, the index has gained 17.2% - the most since mid-March.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,00 tonnes, advanced $287 to $38,422.

The capesize index was down 180 points, or 4.9%, at 3,510. The index dropped nearly 12% this week.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes of coal and steel-making ingredient iron ore, were down $1,494 at $29,106.

The supramax index was down 4 points at 2,935.

(Reporting by Swati Verma; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)