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LONDON—The
Baltic Dry index, a measure of shipping costs for
commodities, rose to a record for a third consecutive
trading session on a shortage of capesize vessels to
haul iron ore and coal.
Coal
supplies are struggling to keep up with demand and the
fuel delivered to northwest Europe advanced to a record
$156.75 a metric ton last week, data from McCloskey
Group Ltd. show.
China’s
steelmakers imported a record 42.9 million tons of iron
ore in April, beating the previous all-time high set in
February by 4.7 million tons, according to data from the
China General Administration of Customs.
There
are “large loading programs in the Atlantic and
currently seemingly insatiable demand,” Rikard Vabo and
Lars Erich Nilsen, analysts at Oslo-based shipbroker and
research company Fearnley Fonds ASA, said in a note late
Monday. Vessel “availability, especially for capesizes
in the Atlantic, is scarce. With the current tight
vessel availability and very strong sentiment, we expect
another strong week.”
The
Baltic index rose 250 points, or 2.2 percent, to 11,709
points, according to the Baltic Exchange in
London.
All vessels gained, from handymaxes, capable of hauling
50,000 metric tons, to capesizes, which carry loads of
as much as 170,000 tons.
The
average capesize carrier, designed to transport about
180,000 tons of coal or iron ore, is sailing faster,
indicating they may be spending less time at ports. The
average speed today is 9.91 knots compared with 9.81
knots on May 16, according to data compiled by
Bloomberg.
Forward-freight agreements, which traders buy and sell
to hedge the future cost of shipping commodities, also
rose. The contracts for capesizes advanced 0.8 percent
to $172,000 a day for the July-to-September period,
according to prices from Imarex NOS ASA, an Oslo-based
freight-derivatives broker. Contracts for panamaxes that
ship 70,000-ton cargoes rose 1.3 percent to $82,125 a
day. (Bloomberg) |
