Main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange plummets to 679 points

UNITED KINGDOM July 28 2016 3:14 PM 

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities plummeted on Wednesday as cape, panamax and supramax rates dropped further.

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, down by another 17 points to 679 points on Wednesday.

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.