The Baltic exchange’s main sea freight index rose for the sixth straight session to its highest level in five weeks on Wednesday, helped by stronger rates across vessel segments.

The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels ferrying dry bulk commodities, gained 151 points, or 5%, to its highest since May 11 at 3,176.

The capesize index rose 315 points, or 8.5%, to a one-month high of 4,010.

Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes of coal and steel-making ingredient iron ore, rose $2,618 to $33,258.

The panamax index gained 112 points, or 3.3%, to 3,519, a peak since June 2010.

“Panamax and Supramax (rates) are expected to remain firm, with the spread between the two normalizing again, following a month of Supramax being at a premium,” shipbroker Intermodal said in a weekly research note dated Tuesday.

Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, went up by $1,007 to $31,671.

The supramax index rose 46 points to 2,713, the highest as per Refinitiv Eikon data available since 2017.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Nishara Karuvalli Pathikkal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)