Baltic Sea Freight Index Down Again

The Baltic Exchange main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, fell on Wednesday for a 12th straight session on weak rates for capesize vessels.

The overall index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, fell 37 points, or 3.37 percent, to 1,061.

The Baltic's capesize index fell 83 points, or 4.09 percent, to 1,946 points.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were down $927 to $12,588.

The panamax index fell 7 points, or 0.87 percent, to 794 points.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes between 60,000 and 70,000 metric tons, were down $62 to $6402.

(Reporting by NR Sethuraman in Bangalore, editing by David Evans)