Wed Nov 7, 2012
Nov 7 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, used to measure rates for ships carrying dry commodities, fell on Wednesday for the eleventh straight session, on falling rates of bigger ships.
The main index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, dropped 31 points to 916 points, a low last seen about a month back.
"The slide is not confined to one specific market at the moment although capes are taking the hit in absolute terms," said analyst Erik Nikolai Stavseth of Arctic Securities in a note.
The Baltic Exchange's capesize index slipped about 4 percent or 88 points to 2,098 points.
The average daily earnings for capesizes, which usually transport 150,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, dipped $876 to $13,545.
There is good demand for ships, but rates are generally too low to attract owners' attention, as they keep the recent "mini-boom" fresh in mind, ship broker Fearnleys said in a note.
Shipments of iron ore, a raw material in steel manufacturing, account for about a third of seaborne volumes on the larger capesizes, and brokers said price developments remained a key factor for dry freight.
The Baltic's panamax index fell 1.34 percent to 737 points, a loss of 10 points. Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually transport 60,000 to 70,000 tonne cargoes of coal or grains, were down $76 to $5,904.
"The trend from last week continued into this week with little transatlantic business entering the market and plenty of ships looking for same," Fearnleys said.
Average daily earnings for handysize and supramax ships were down to $6,089 and $6,761, respectively.
Growing ship supply has been outpacing commodity demand for some time and is widely expected to weigh on dry bulk freight rates in the coming months.
(Reporting by Naveen Arul in Bangalore, editing by William Hardy)
Nov 7 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, used to measure rates for ships carrying dry commodities, fell on Wednesday for the eleventh straight session, on falling rates of bigger ships.
The main index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, dropped 31 points to 916 points, a low last seen about a month back.
"The slide is not confined to one specific market at the moment although capes are taking the hit in absolute terms," said analyst Erik Nikolai Stavseth of Arctic Securities in a note.
The Baltic Exchange's capesize index slipped about 4 percent or 88 points to 2,098 points.
The average daily earnings for capesizes, which usually transport 150,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, dipped $876 to $13,545.
There is good demand for ships, but rates are generally too low to attract owners' attention, as they keep the recent "mini-boom" fresh in mind, ship broker Fearnleys said in a note.
Shipments of iron ore, a raw material in steel manufacturing, account for about a third of seaborne volumes on the larger capesizes, and brokers said price developments remained a key factor for dry freight.
The Baltic's panamax index fell 1.34 percent to 737 points, a loss of 10 points. Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually transport 60,000 to 70,000 tonne cargoes of coal or grains, were down $76 to $5,904.
"The trend from last week continued into this week with little transatlantic business entering the market and plenty of ships looking for same," Fearnleys said.
Average daily earnings for handysize and supramax ships were down to $6,089 and $6,761, respectively.
Growing ship supply has been outpacing commodity demand for some time and is widely expected to weigh on dry bulk freight rates in the coming months.
(Reporting by Naveen Arul in Bangalore, editing by William Hardy)
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