The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index rose to register a seventh straight weekly gain on Friday, as demand gained steam across all vessel segments.
The Baltic dry index, which tracks rates for ships ferrying dry bulk commodities and reflects rates for capesize, panamax and supramax vessels, rose 71 points, or 3.9%, to 1,894, climbing to its highest since mid-October 2019 and rising 8.3% for the week.
Easing virus-led lockdowns in China have boosted demand for iron-ore, helping the index to gain 73.8% so far this year.
The Baltic capesize index gained 176 points, or 4.1%, to 4,440.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport cargoes of 170,000 tonnes to 180,000 tonnes, including iron ore and coal, rose by $1,305 to $32,682.
The panamax index rose 4.7% or 59 points to 1,316, hitting a more than 6 months high and gaining 4.8% for the week.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 tonnes to 70,000 tonnes, increased by $523 to $11,840.
The supramax index inched up 8 points to 701.
(Reporting by Diptendu Lahiri in Bengaluru; editing by David Evans)