Baltic index hits 8-month low on soft demand across vessels

REUTERS: The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index touched its lowest level in eight months on Friday, weighed down by weak demand across all vessel segments.

The Baltic index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels that ferry dry bulk commodities, fell 69 points, or 7%, to 907 points, its lowest level since end-April 2019.

The index posted its biggest one-day percentage drop since January 2014, in the previous session.

The capesize index fell 139 points, or 8.4%, to 1,507 – its lowest since May 2019.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 170,000-180,000 ton cargoes including iron ore and coal, slid $ 1,151 to $ 10,825. The panamax index fell 54 points, or 5.4%, to 949 points.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tons to 70,000 tons, decreased $ 494 to $ 8,537. The supramax index slipped 23 points to 662.