Fri Jul 20, 2012
July 20 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry commodities, fell on Friday as sluggish shipping activity in the Atlantic and Pacific basins weighed on rates.
The main index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, dropped 16 points or 1.52 percent to 1,037 points.
The Baltic's panamax index lost 2.28 percent.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually transport 60,000-70,000 tonne cargoes of coal or grains, reached $9,219.
"Not a huge amount of activity has been seen in the Pacific. Rates are unexcitingly consistent," broker firm Braemar Seascope said in a note.
The Atlantic basin remained stable with some fixing activity keeping the panamax rates more or less unchanged, ICAP Shipping said.
The average daily earnings for handysize and supramax ships fell to $9,519 and $12,459, respectively.
The Baltic's capesize index remained flat at 1,276 points. However, daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, fell $41 to $5,342.
China, which buys around 60 percent of the world's iron ore, saw its economy growing at its weakest pace in three years in the second quarter, along with a seasonal lull in steel demand during the summer months, curbing appetite for iron ore.
Shipments of iron ore, used to make steel, account for around a third of seaborne volumes on the larger capesizes vessels.
Analysts expect capesize rates to remain at this level through next week with limited activity from mining majors coupled with sparse trading in terms of coal cargoes.
The overall index, which gauges the cost of shipping commodities such as iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser is down about 40 percent this year.
(Reporting by Soma Das in Bangalore; Editing by Anthony Barker)
July 20 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry commodities, fell on Friday as sluggish shipping activity in the Atlantic and Pacific basins weighed on rates.
The main index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, dropped 16 points or 1.52 percent to 1,037 points.
The Baltic's panamax index lost 2.28 percent.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually transport 60,000-70,000 tonne cargoes of coal or grains, reached $9,219.
"Not a huge amount of activity has been seen in the Pacific. Rates are unexcitingly consistent," broker firm Braemar Seascope said in a note.
The Atlantic basin remained stable with some fixing activity keeping the panamax rates more or less unchanged, ICAP Shipping said.
The average daily earnings for handysize and supramax ships fell to $9,519 and $12,459, respectively.
The Baltic's capesize index remained flat at 1,276 points. However, daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, fell $41 to $5,342.
China, which buys around 60 percent of the world's iron ore, saw its economy growing at its weakest pace in three years in the second quarter, along with a seasonal lull in steel demand during the summer months, curbing appetite for iron ore.
Shipments of iron ore, used to make steel, account for around a third of seaborne volumes on the larger capesizes vessels.
Analysts expect capesize rates to remain at this level through next week with limited activity from mining majors coupled with sparse trading in terms of coal cargoes.
The overall index, which gauges the cost of shipping commodities such as iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser is down about 40 percent this year.
(Reporting by Soma Das in Bangalore; Editing by Anthony Barker)
No comments:
Post a Comment