UNITED KINGDOM September 19 2016 6:36 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities shot up 36 points a day on Friday mainly due to a sharp increase in Cape Index.

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 36 points to 800points on Friday.

The Baltic Dry Index has climbed from 475 at the end of 2015 to highs of 804 last week, an increase of 69.3%. Even more impressive is the move from February 11, when the BDI dropped to all-time lows of 290, since that date the index is up over 177%.