Main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange declines further to 1109 points

UNITED KINGDOM May 02 2017 1:31 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities declined further to 1109 points on Friday driven by the weakness in cape, panamax and supramax 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, fell by another 25 points to 1109 points on Friday.

On Friday, the BDI closed at 1,109 points after falling 7% over the week as capesize and panamax hire rates fell. While capesize hire rates were under pressure, the panamax collapsed. Last week, the panamax fell 21% putting the index at a one-month low.