UNITED KINGDOM January 20 2017 12:27 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities climbed above 950 points on Thursday boosted by stronger cape index.

The Baltic Dry Index, which provides an assessment of the price of moving the major raw materials – such as coal, iron ore and grain – by sea by taking in 23 shipping routes measured on a time charter basis, dropped by 10 points to 942 points on Thursday. 

The BDI has been volatile over the past few weeks, but overall the commodity has staged a good recovery since it fell to 892 points on January 12. 

At 942 points, the BDI is quickly approaching the 953 point value it was at on the first trading session of 2017. About one year ago, the BDI was at 373 points and barreling lower. It set a record low of 290 points in February 2016.