UNITED KINGDOM March 31 2016 1:35 PM     

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main  sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities  continued to rise to 414 points on Wednesday boosted by higher cape, supramax  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, up by  another 5 point to 414 points on Wednesday.

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.