In fact, the Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels that carry dry bulk commodities, dropped 23 points, or 1.5%, to 1,528 points, Reuters reports.
Notably, the index fell for a fifth straight session on Tuesday- being weighed down by softer demand for capesize vessels. In particular, the capesize index fell 75 points, or 2.3%, to 3,167 points.
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What is more, average daily earnings for capesizes, which usually transport 170,000 to 180,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, dropped $793 to $22,652.
On the other hand, the panamax index gained 36 points, or 2.6%, to 1,395 points, registering its tenth consecutive session of gains.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, usually carrying coal or grain cargoes of almost 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, increased $284 to $11,178.
Further to this, the supramax index edged up one point to 838 points, its highest in over a month.
In October, according to Reuters, the Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index showed a decrease on ships transferring dry bulk commodities because of the lower demand for capesize vessels.
Recently, the Baltic Index Council reported that announced that the Baltic will be adding clarificatory wording to its Capesize, Panamax, Supramax and Handysize vessel descriptions to confirm that the index vessels are not scrubber-fitted, aiming to compliance with the IMO’s 2020 sulphur cap.