The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk sea freight index, which tracks rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, dropped on Tuesday pressured by losses across all vessel segments.
The index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax and supramax shipping vessels, shed 66 points to 1,480 points, its lowest since early February.
The capesize index fell 183 points to 2,008 points.
Average daily earnings for capesize vessels, which typically transport 150,000-ton cargoes such as iron ore and coal, decreased $1,520 to $16,654.
Prices of iron ore futures fell, weighed down by concerns that demand for the key steelmaking raw material will slide, with steel demand in top consumer China showing signs of softening.
The panamax index eased 18 points to 1,260 points.
Average daily earnings for panamax vessels, which usually carry 60,000-70,000 tons of coal or grain cargo, fell by $163 to $11,339.
Among smaller vessels, the supramax index was down 1 point to 1,249 points.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Sherin Elizabeth Varghese in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)
