by Arpan Varghese (Reuters) – The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index extended its slide to a fourth straight session to touch a near six-month low on Thursday, as rates fell for all vessel segments amid a seasonal slowdown in demand.
The overall index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, dropped by 38 points, or 3.3 percent, to 1,114 points, the lowest since Aug. 10, 2017. The index recorded a 15.66 percent decline in January, its biggest monthly percentage fall since May 2017.
“I think its fair to recognize that the first quarter always represents quite a much lower level of demand,” said Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst at industry lobby group BIMCO.
The capesize index shed 85 points, or 5.3 percent, to 1,528 points, having registered a 43 percent fall in January 2018. Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were down $936 at $11,791.
Iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange slipped 1 percent on Thursday amid concerns that appetite from China could weaken if steel mills keep cutting production beyond winter. China’s government ordered producers in 28 cities to cut output between mid-November and mid-March to reduce air pollution.
“Anything that comes out of current weakness, we do not expect that to be a trend of a huge change,” said Sand. “But perhaps the weakness that we always see in the markets around that time of the year leading up to the Chinese New Year,”
The panamax index lost 33 points, or 2.34 percent, to 1,378 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, declined $263 to $11,046. Among smaller vessels, the supramax index shed 7 points to 877 points and the handysize index lost 6 points to 552 points.
Meanwhile, the Baltic Exchange on Thursday said from March 1, 2018, the main dry index will no longer include the handysize time charter average.
by Kirstin Ridley (Reuters) Newcastle United football club co-owner Amanda Staveley on Monday lost a London High Court battle with a Greek shipping tycoon over a historic debt of nearly...
On Thursday the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced action against financial networks aiding the Houthi forces in Yemen. This aims to choke off...
By Vince Golle (Bloomberg) Shipping costs are rising as hundreds of container ships that typically transit the key maritime artery of the Red Sea and Suez Canal are rerouting after a...
December 30, 2023
Total Views: 1215
Why Join the gCaptain Club?
Access exclusive insights, engage in vibrant discussions, and gain perspectives from our CEO.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.