
Shipping stocks sail higher as Baltic Dry Index hits 8-month high
Shares of shipping companies were in high demand on Friday as freight rates surged sharply, lifting investor sentiment across the sector.
The Baltic Dry Index (BDI), a global benchmark that tracks the cost of transporting dry bulk commodities like coal, iron ore, and grains, jumped 9.6% to 1,904, marking its highest level since October 7. The rally in BDI reflects strong activity in global trade routes.
On the back of this, Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) (up 5.16%), Velox Shipping and Logistics (up 5%) and Great Eastern Shipping Company (up 2.63%) surged.
A rising BDI typically boosts earnings potential for shipping companies as it directly translates into higher freight revenues per voyage.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Time of India
a day ago
- Time of India
Japanese shipping firm plans to start container services from Mormugao port
Panaji: At least three shipping lines, including the Japanese shipping firm Ocean Network Express (ONE), expressed interest in commencing container movement at Mormugao port after the monsoon. Additionally, Delta Ports, which handles operations at Berth No 10 and 11 of Mormugao port, is in active discussions with Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) to include Goa in the SMILE (SCI-Middle-East-India-Liner-Express) service. ONE's senior management team, led by its managing director Masahiro Sakikubo, undertook a comprehensive terminal tour of Mormugao port on Monday to assess the terminal's container-handling infrastructure. ONE is jointly owned by the Japanese shipping lines Nippon Yusen Kaisha, Mitsui OSK Lines, and K Line. 'This is a major milestone where a global liner has entrusted us and visited Goa for restarting the container services. ONE's management showed keen interest in the ongoing developments at Delta port's Mormugao Terminal Private Limited, particularly regarding the resumption of container services. Our consistent efforts and engagement with stakeholders led to their first-hand visit, offering an encouraging outlook for Goa Port's future,' said an official of Delta Ports. ONE, currently ranked fifth in the global container trade, operates a fleet of over 260 vessels with a capacity exceeding 2 million TEU. MPA chairperson N Vinodkumar assured ONE of the port's full support, along with incentives to facilitate the commencement of container trade. Encouragingly, Unifeeder, another logistics firm, is currently studying the feasibility of including Goa in its container network, engaging with leading shipping lines like CMA CGM, ONE, Maersk, MSC, and HMM to ship container cargo post-monsoon. Port officials said that the inclusion of Mormugao port in the SCI's SMILE network will reduce road transport dependency and support cargo movement for salt, industrial salt, tiles, bentonite, and manufactured goods, benefitting local industries. 'Goa's exporters and importers will soon enjoy seamless global connectivity from their hometown port. "This initiative will particularly empower MSMEs, enabling them to compete confidently in international markets without the burden of high logistics costs,' said an MPA official.


Economic Times
7 days ago
- Economic Times
Pick up defence stocks for long term; 2 shipping stocks to buy: Neeraj Dewan
Neeraj Dewan, Market Expert is optimistic about the long-term prospects of the defence sector. Budget allocations and export potential will drive growth. He suggests that while some consolidation may occur in the short term, stocks like Garden Reach and Mazagon Dock are good long-term investments. Dewan advises caution on SCI and Cochin Shipyard due to potential geopolitical impacts. ADVERTISEMENT Would you recommend betting afresh into BEL, HAL, or any other defence stock? Neeraj Dewan: If someone is a long-term investor, even after the run-up, defence is one space where there are going to be budget allocation expenditure, there can be export opportunities, and so they will continue to be strong even in the longer term. Shorter term, definitely because in the last couple of months the stocks have run up a lot and some consolidation may happen. But for a long-term play even now one can pick up these stocks and stay invested in them for a longer term. Even if you take a look at some subsectors inside defence, let us talk about some of these shipping companies. A lot of them have seen a runup once again in the last couple of trading sessions. Given the kind of surge that we have seen in a couple of these names like SCI, Garden Reach, Cochin Shipyard, would you still be advising a buy in all of these stocks? Neeraj Dewan: I am still positive on companies like Garden Reach or Mazagon Dock. SCI can be a move because of the prices going up because of the Iran-Israel clashes, so they may be impacted. Suppose that is settled and there is a truce there, you may get some reaction on the downside from SCI. So, I am not positive on stocks like SCI or even Cochin Shipyard but something like a Mazagon Dock or Garden Reach are good long-term plays. What is your analysis on Biocon? I do not know how closely you track this one because there has been a lot of easing in terms of regulatory hurdles. Now, there is a sizable fundraising as well. The next big overhang seems to be succession, but until then, everything seems to be working up. Neeraj Dewan: Actually, there has been a lot of news flow around the succession issue also and whether there can be some stake sale or not. So, there were a lot of speculations in the stock earlier. And now there is this QIP. There will be interest in seeing who is going to invest in the QIP and that will keep the stock positive. But in the medium-term, what happens is that once you get this kind of a supply in the market, the big investors will invest into the stock for the long term and there would not be any huge follow-up demand coming in. So, over the medium-term, the stock may not give that kind of a move, but this kind of inflow into the company for a longer term will do well and the stock should do well. Performance on the numbers front has not been that great lately, and that also needs to improve going ahead. If that improves with this kind of a capital coming in, over the long term, the stock should do well. ADVERTISEMENT What is your take on Asian Paints? Reliance has offloaded its entire stake in Asian Paints. Does this change investor perception about the stock now that Reliance has offloaded? Asian Paints has been in the middle of the competition and the price war in paints. Do you believe it is a good time to see any run-up or is it going to be sluggish going ahead? Neeraj Dewan: Some more consolidation will stay as far as Asian Paints is concerned. There can be some short-term up move because the stock has been down and stayed at these levels for quite some time. So, someone who is a long-term investor and has seen Asian Paints doing well over the years may take this opportunity to add up some to the portfolio because majority of the portfolios are holding on to the Asian Paints stock because over the longer term they made good money there. So, they may like to add some more. However, I do not see any meaningful upside happening in Asian Paints over the medium-term. So, a short-term move may happen positively but over the medium term, there can still be a sluggish movement and some more consolidation in Asian Paints. ADVERTISEMENT (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)
&w=3840&q=100)

Business Standard
7 days ago
- Business Standard
SCI, GE Shipping in focus as Baltic Dry Index up 47% in 1-mth; time to buy?
The Baltic Dry Index now quotes at a 8-month high. Technical charts hint at a potential 36 per cent upside for select shipping stocks like SCI, Dredging and Seamec. Details here Rex Cano Mumbai Listen to This Article Shares of shipping related companies are likely to be in focus as the Baltic Dry Index - the shipping and trade index - has surged to a 8-month high at 1,968. The index has rallied as much as 47 per cent from levels of 1,338 in the last one month. What is the Baltic Dry Index & its impact? The Baltic Dry Index (BDI) represents the average price for shipping dry bulk materials via sea routes, and is often considered as a leading indicator of economic activity for it reflects the supply and demand for raw materials