Baltic Index Down for 15th Straight Day
The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, on Monday fell for the 15th straight session, hurt by weak rates across all vessel segments.
The overall index — which considers rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels — fell 9 points, or 1.08 percent, to 821 points, its lowest level in over three months.
The capesize index shed 21 points, or 1.53 percent, to end at 1,353 points.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, dipped $128 to $9,837.
Iron ore futures in China climbed for a second consecutive session on Monday, however, sustained drop in steel prices pulled the steelmaking raw material off session highs.
Weaker steel prices could limit Chinese steel mills' appetite to replenish their iron ore inventory.
Iron ore shipments account for around a third of sea borne volumes on the larger capesizes.
The panamax index fell 3 points, or 0.38 percent, to 789 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, decreased $20 to $6,338.
Among smaller vessel indexes, the supramax index lost 8 points to end at 666 points, while the handysize index fell 5 points to 441 points.
(Reporting by Eileen Soreng in Bengaluru)
