Stronger Capesize Demand Boosts Baltic Index
The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose on Tuesday, primarily helped by higher demand for capesize vessels.
The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, gained 14 points, or about 2 percent to 704 points.
The capesize index, rose 48 points, or 4.42 percent to 1,135 points, levels last seen in early November.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, increased $513 to $8,789.
The panamax index was down nine points at 718 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, fell $66 to $5,729 on Tuesday.
Among the smaller vessels, both the supramax index and the handysize index rose two points to 564 points and 358 points respectively.
(Reporting by Apeksha Nair in Bengaluru)
