Main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange plunges to 906 points

UNITED KINGDOM October 13 2016 1:23 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities plunged on Wednesday as subdued shipping activity finally impacted hire rates.

There was some optimism heading into this week that an uptick in activity, which hit at the end of last week, would continue, but that has not materialized. 

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 16 points to 906 points on Wednesday.

The reason for the bullish expectations was the fact that this week Chinese buyers returned to the market following China’s week-long holiday, but demand has not progressed as hoped.