The Baltic Exchange’s main dry bulk sea freight index rose to a more than 11-year high on Friday, advancing for a sixth consecutive week, as gains in the larger capesize segment countered a retreat in panamaxes.
The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize vessels, gained 40 points, or 1%, to 4,235, rising for a sixth straight week, up 3.5%.
The capesize index rose 119 points, or 2%, to 6,162. The index also registered its sixth straight week of gains, up 2.8%.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, rose by $986 to $51,099.
Chinese coking coal and coke futures fell on Friday, pulling back from record highs scaled a session earlier, although the steelmaking ingredients were set for more than 10% weekly gains.
The panamax index fell 37 points, or 0.9%, to 3,874. It rose 6.1% this week.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, decreased by $332 to $34,870.
Among smaller vessels, the supramax index rose 33 points to an all-time high of 3,470.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Rahul Paswan in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)