Main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange declines further 954 points

UNITED KINGDOM May 23 2017 1:35 PM
LONDON (Scrap Register): The main sea freight index at Baltic Exchange for ships carrying dry bulk commodities declined further to 954 points on Monday led by lower 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, dropped by another 02 point to 954 points on Monday.

About 9-years ago the BDI set its record high of over 11,000 points during May. The index then plunged, losing 63% of its value in one year and continuing its loss until February 2016 when it bottomed at 290 points. 

The BDI crashed even as the world’s markets recovered from the Great Recession as more ships, put into construction during the last economic growth cycle, came into service. To date, this oversupply of ships is still pressuring the BDI’s value.