Fri Apr 13, 2012
April 12 (Reuters) - The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry commodities, rose on Friday for a third straight day, boosted by an uptrend in panamax activity and rates.
The main index that reflects the daily freight market rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels rose 12 points or 1.25 percent to 972 points.
The Baltic's panamax index gained 48 points or 4.32 percent to 1,158 points. Average daily earnings for panamaxes rose to $9,264, the highest since January. Panamaxes usually transport 60,000 to 70,000 tonne cargoes of coal or grains.
Grain exports out of South America are going strong and lending support to trans-Atlantic business, broker firm Braemar Seascope said in a note.
"Owners (panamax) are now pushing for better ballast bonus levels," said Braemar Seascope.
Rates in the Pacific also started to pick up mid-week with some encouraging numbers reported, and overall sentiment remains moderately positive, the brokerage firm said.
The Baltic's capesize index fell 0.25 percent to 1,572 points.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were down at $6,992.
Dry bulk freight rate gains are expected to be capped by growing ship supply, which has been outpacing commodity demand for quite sometime.
(Reporting by NR Sethuraman in Bangalore, editing by Jane Baird)
No comments:
Post a Comment