UNITED KINGDOM June 09 2017 2:35 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities gained further on Thursday mainly due to higher cape and panamax 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, gained by another 03 points to 824 points on Thursday.

According to Freight Investors Services, capesize rates were largely unchanged in the physical market but the paper market viewed the stability after the recent, steep losses as a positive and the paper market ended up trading higher. 

The physical panamax market was range-bound, but the paper market garnered some upside support, tracking the capesize index higher. The supramax and panamax paper markets were also firmer.