Main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange remains flat at 398 points

UNITED KINGDOM March 23 2016 1:28 PM     

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main  sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities has  remained flat on Tuesday due to the lower cape and panamax rates.

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, flat at 398 points on  Tuesday.

The index fell almost every day in 2016 until February 11, when  it set a record low of 290. Since then, the index has made a solid recovery but  now that appears to be losing steam.

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.