The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities, inched down on Tuesday as a dip in the capesize segment offset gains in smaller vessels.
The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, shed one point to 3,281 points.
The capesize index lost 26 points, or 0.6%, to 4,246 points.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were down $213 at $35,216.
The panamax index was up 17 points, or 0.5%, at 3,307 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, increased by $156 to $29,766.
Weekly iron ore shipments from Australia and Brazil fell by 147,000 tonnes from a week earlier to 24.7 million tonnes as of Aug. 1, data from Mysteel consultancy showed.
The supramax index rose 10 points to 2,969 points.
The world’s biggest container shipping company, A.P. Moller-Maersk, on Monday lifted its full-year earnings outlook on chaotic conditions in the global supply chain due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Overall, container capacities are still in short supply, which continues to drive up freight costs, and the trend reversal does not yet seem to be imminent, Commerzbank said in a note on Tuesday.
The Baltic Exchange’s main index has more than doubled in the last 12 months.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)