Main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange stays flat at 408 points

UNITED KINGDOM March 29 2016 2:30 PM

LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities stayed flat at 408 points on Monday as stronger cape, supramax 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, remained stable at 408 points on Monday.

The index fell almost every day in 2016 until February 11, when it set a record low of 290. Since then, the index has made a solid recovery but now that appears to be losing steam. 

The index is based on a daily survey of agents all over the world. Baltic Dry hit a temporary peak on May 20, 2008, when the index hit 11,793. The lowest level ever reached was on February 10 2016, when the index plummeted to 290 points.