Main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange continues to rise after a week of gains

UNITED KINGDOM February 23 2016 1:44 PM 

LONDON(Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities advanced marginally on Monday on improved rates for cape, panamax and supeamax.

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, gained further by 1 points to 316 on Monday.

The Baltic Dry Index climbed further as industry players once again voiced opinion that scrapping - rather than layups or slashing newbuild orders - is the dry bulk market's only hope for meaningful recovery.

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 Wednesday, February 10 2016, when the index plummeted to 290 points.