The Baltic Exchange's main sea freight index, tracking rates for ships carrying dry bulk commodities, rose on Monday, helped by higher rates across vessel categories.
The overall index, which factors in rates for capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize shipping vessels, rose 6 points or 0.48 percent to 1,266 points, its highest level since April 19 and marking 16 straight sessions of gains.
The capesize index rose 10 points, or 0.39 percent, to end at 2,584 points.
Average daily earnings for capesizes, which typically transport 150,000-tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were up $17 to $19,515.
The panamax index advanced 4 points or 0.3 percent to 1,349 points.
Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually carry coal or grain cargoes of about 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes, increased $32 to $10,812.
Among indexes tracking smaller vessels, the supramax index climbed 11 points to 817 points, while the handysize index inched up 1 point to 466 points.
(Reporting by Karen Rodrigues in Bengaluru)