Baltic Index Sees Worst Week in 6 Months as Ship Availability Improves

The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index fell for a fourth straight session on Friday, driving it to its worst weekly loss in six months on abundant availability of ships in the Atlantic region.

* The Baltic index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities, fell 0.5%, or 10 points, to 1,937 points. The index fell 10.7%, worst weekly performance since week-ending Feb. 1.

* The index has still more than tripled since February, mainly driven by strong demand for vessels that ship iron ore from Brazil into China.

* The Capesize index rose 38 points, or 1.1%, to 3,647 points. For the week, Capesize index was down 16.7%, its worst since week-ending March 29.

* Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 170,000 tonne-180,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, rose $217 to $27,145.

* The Panamax index fell 71 points, or 3.3%, to 2,109 points.

* Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, decreased $562 to $16,869.

* The supramax index fell 7 points to 1,005 points.

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