Main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange advances further to 974 points

UNITED KINGDOM November 11 2016 1:36 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities advanced further to 974 points on Thursday boosted by strong cape and panamax indices.

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, shot up by another 20 points to 974 points on Thursday. 

The BDI was able to rebound off of those lows following a rebound in both the physical and paper market, and Freight Investor Services expects that if the physical market continues to push higher, the BDI’s value could see further appreciation. 

Demand is increasing for capesize, panamax, and supramax ships while handysize hire interest remains flat.