Main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange shoots up to 745 points

UNITED KINGDOM September 07 2016 3:03 PM 

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities shot up to 745 points on Tuesday mainly due to the optimism that the end of summer holiday season and the kick-off of restocking season will boost shipping demand, and therefore shipping hire rates along major routes.

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, advanced sharply by 21 points to 745 points on Tuesday.

With the harvest season well underway, and the need for customers to stock up on raw materials ahead of winter before shipping becomes more difficult, the sentiment was sparked that we will have a few good months of demand, even though the winter lull will be just around the corner. 

There has been the anticipation of a pick-up in demand for weeks now, but the optimism appears to be in full force now that the Labor Day weekend is behind us. The Labor Day weekend is often seen as the unofficial end of summer.