Main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange hits best since 2015

UNITED KINGDOM November 10 2016 1:39 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities advanced above 950 points mark on Wednesday led by strong cape and panamax indices.

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, shot up by another 43 points to 954 points on Wednesday, its highest price point since September 2015.

The Baltic Dry Index had previously run into a fair bit of resistance this fall, after peaking at 941 points in September; shipping rates fell as restocking season came in as a bit of a disappointment.

The index is based on a daily survey of agents all over the world. Baltic Dry hit a temporary peak on May 20, 2008, when the index hit 11,793. The lowest level ever reached was on February 10 2016, when the index plummeted to 290 points.