Baltic Dry Index stays above 1000 points

UNITED KINGDOM March 09 2017 2:16 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities stayed above 1000 points on Wednesday driven by higher cape, panamax and supramax rates.

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 by another 12 points to 1045 points on Wednesday. 

While the BDI showed surprising resilience through its recent, seasonal lull period, this resilience came largely from steady hire rates for smaller BDI component ships while capesize hire rates experienced pressure.

However, as seaborne trade for iron ore and coal ramps back up the capesize index has really started to take off and this has sent the BDI higher.