Fri Jun 15, 2012
June 15 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which is used to track rates for ships carrying dry commodities, rose on Friday for a sixth straight day spurred by increased activity in smaller ships.
The overall index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, gained 12 points to 924 points, up 1.32 percent.
"We note that there is a slightly more positive view on the smaller segments still," analyst Erik Nikolai Stavseth of Arctic Securities said.
The Baltic's panamax index climbed 1.82 percent to 1,065 points. Average daily earnings of Panamaxes, which typically transport 60,000-70,000 tonne cargoes of coal or grains, rose $149 to $8,469.
"In general, coal movements support Panamaxes at this time of the year ahead of the summer cooling season," RS Platou Markets analyst Frode Morkedal said in a note.
The Baltic's capesize index dropped 14 points to 1,148 points, with average daily earnings for capesizes, which usually transport 150,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, falling $186 to $3,471.
Shipments of iron ore, used to make steel, account for around a third of seaborne volumes on the larger capesizes.
"The main weakness the last week has been seen in the Pacific where round voyage rates are down 12 percent to $4,200. This has been despite improved buying interest among Chinese steel mills, indicating massive oversupply of ships," Morkedal said.
Daily earnings of capesizes have averaged about $6,788 per day, lesser than average running costs of around $7,000. Average daily earnings have dipped about 87 percent this year.
The average daily earnings for handysize and supramax ships were both up at $9,549 and $11,097, respectively.
The Baltic Exchange's main index, a gauge of the cost of shipping commodities such as iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, has grown about 5 percent over the week.
(Reporting by Naveen Arul in Bangalore; editing by Jason Neely)
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