UNITED KINGDOM March 15 2017 1:26 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities branched to 1100 points on Tuesday driven by stronger 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 13 points to 1112 points on Tuesday.

While the BDI experienced its normal slowdown this winter, now with spring approaching China’s restocking of raw materials ahead of the peak demand season is causing a rally in hire rates. What is really propelling the BDI higher is the capesize index. Capesize ships are the largest of the BDI component ships and they transport primarily iron ore.