The Baltic Exchange’s main sea freight index, which factors in the average daily earnings of capesize, panamax, supramax and handysize dry bulk transport vessels, continued to dip on Wednesday, hurt by lower capesize and panamax rates. * The overall index, which gauges the cost of shipping commodities such as iron ore, cement, grain, coal and fertiliser, fell 50 points or 2.67 percent to 1,826 points. * The Baltic’s capesize index dropped 199 points or 6.6 percent to 2,818 points. * Average daily earnings for capesizes, which usually transport 150,000 tonne cargoes such as iron ore and coal, were down $1,407 at $27,994 on Wednesday. The earnings have fallen about 21 percent over the last week. * The Baltic’s panamax index slipped 20 points or 1.18 percent to 1,672 points. * Average daily earnings for panamaxes, which usually transport 60,000 to 70,000 tonne cargoes of coal or grains, were down $164 at $13,323. * “Volatility is likely to rise as the market balance improves. Positive demand shocks will benefit owners and operators to a higher extent than in previous years,” said Peter Sand, chief shipping analyst with ship association BIMCO. “The significant oversupply of dry bulk tonnage will, however, influence the pace of the recovery as will the deliveries that follow on from the many new building contracts signed during 2013.” (Reporting by Koustav Samanta in Bangalore; Editing by Pravin Char)