Baltic Dry Index at Over 2-Week Low

The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, was down for a fifth straight session on Wednesday, falling about 1% to its lowest since September 1 at 3,327 points. The capesize index, which typically transports 150,000-ton cargoes, including iron ore and coal, declined by 1.3% to 5,612 points; and the panamax index, which usually carries 60,000 to 70,000 tons of coal or grain, dropped by 1.6% to 2,325 points. Conversely, the supramax index rose by 0.7% to 1,748 points.

The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, retreated for a fourth session on Tuesday, dropping about 2.5% to a new low since September 2 at 3,360 points. The downward pressure came from larger vessel segments. The capesize index, which typically transports 150,000-ton cargoes, including iron ore and coal, declined 3.8% to 5,687 points, on higher shipments of iron ore; and the panamax index, which usually carries 60,000 to 70,000 tons of coal or grain, fell 1.2% to 2,364 points. Conversely, the supramax index rose by 0.6% to 1,736 points.

The Baltic dry index fell 1.8% to 3445 on Monday, extending losses for the third session to its lowest level since September 2. The capesize index, which typically transports 150,000-ton cargoes, including iron ore and coal, declined 2.8% to 5912. Also, the panamax index, which usually carries 60,000 to 70,000 tons of coal or grain, went down 0.6% to 2393. On the other hand, the supramax index increased 0.4% to 1725. Meanwhile, the number of commodity ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz fell to fewer than 10 per day over the weekend, according to early ship-tracking data released Monday. This was lower than the 10-day average of 14 ships per day.