The Baltic Exchange’s dry bulk freight index, which measures shipping rates for vessels carrying dry bulk commodities, declined by about 1.3% to 3,426 points on Friday, reversing part of a 1.2% gain in the previous session, as weakness in larger vessel segments weighed on the market.
The capesize index, reflecting rates for ships that typically transport 150,000-ton cargoes such as iron ore and coal, dropped 2.6% to 5,784 points. In contrast, the panamax index, covering vessels that usually carry 60,000 to 70,000 tons of coal or grain, rose 1.1% to 2,407 points, while the supramax index inched up 0.2% to 1,786 points.
Despite Friday’s pullback, the benchmark index posted a weekly gain of 1.6%.
