Baltic sea index pushed up by smaller ships

Fri Apr 27, 2012
April 27 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, used to track rates for ships carrying dry commodities, rose on Friday for the 13th straight day, on growing activity of smaller vessels.

The main index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, rose 8 points or 0.7 percent to 1,156 points.

The Baltic's panamax index gained 0.64 percent.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually transport 60,000-70,000 tonne cargoes of coal or grains, reached $13,877.

The capesize index dropped 0.4 percent to 1,499 points, with average daily earnings at $6,478.

The average daily earnings of capesizes, which typically transport 150,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, has fallen about 76 percent this year.

"A sheer lack of spot activity in the past few weeks on the iron ore majors continued absence from the market, capesize rates have stagnated close to the $6,500/day mark and showing no signs of a major move on the upside," said RS Platou Markets analyst Frode Morkedal in a note.

Iron ore shipments account for around a third of seaborne volumes on the larger capesizes, and brokers said price developments remained a key factor for dry freight.

Prices for imported iron ore cargoes in China fell for the third day in a week on Friday, reflecting thin buying interest among steel producers worried about slow domestic demand that has weighed on Shanghai rebar futures for a second week running.

The average daily earnings for handysize and supramax ships were up at $8,873 and $11,526, respectively.

The overall index, which gauges the cost of shipping commodities such as iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser is down about 33 percent this year.

(Reporting by Naveen Arul in Bangalore; Editing by Alison Birrane)