UNITED KINGDOM July 26 2017 12:41 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities gained to 980 points on Tuesday mainly on 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, gained by 3 points to 980 points on Tuesday.

The BDI gives an average measure of the demand to transport raw materials by factoring in rates for various size ships, from capesizes through handysizes. Each of the component ships transports a unique suite of goods; therefore, demand for each of the BDI component ships can fluctuate independently.