April 11 (Reuters) – The Baltic Exchange’s predominant sea freight index, monitoring charges for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose on Monday for the twelfth consecutive session, supported primarily by stronger demand for capesize vessels.

The general index, which components in charges for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize transport vessels, rose 16 factors or about 3 p.c to 555 factors.

The capesize index swelled 77 factors, or about 12 p.c, to 733 factors.

Average every day earnings for capesizes, which generally transport 150,000-tonne cargoes resembling iron ore and coal, rose $444 to $5,533.

The panamax index rose 11 factors to 654 factors.

Average every day earnings for panamaxes, which often carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, rose $85 to $5,216.

Among smaller vessels, the supramax index was up seven factors to 492 factors, whereas the handysize index was up two factors to 288 factors (Reporting by Nithin Prasad in Bengaluru)

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