Baltic Capesize Index (BCI)

What is the Baltic Capesize Index?

The Baltic Capesize Index (BCI) tracks spot freight rates for Capesize vessels, the largest class of dry-bulk carrier. Capesize ships are too big for the Suez and Panama canals at full load, so they sail the long way around (around the Cape of Good Hope or Cape Horn — hence the name) and carry mostly iron ore and coal. The BCI is published each London business day by the Baltic Exchange and is one of the three vessel-class indices that feed the headline Baltic Dry Index. Because Capesize demand is concentrated in a few commodities and a few routes, the BCI is the most volatile of the dry-bulk sub-indices and can swing sharply on changes in Chinese steel demand or Atlantic-basin coal flows.

How is the Capesize Index different from the Baltic Dry Index?

The Capesize Index is a single-vessel-class component, while the Baltic Dry Index is a composite of three classes (Capesize, Panamax and Supramax). The BCI isolates the largest, most volatile end of the dry-bulk market — long-haul iron ore and coal — whereas the BDI blends in mid-size Panamax and smaller Supramax rates that serve grain and minor-bulk trades. Watching the BCI separately lets analysts see whether a move in the headline BDI is driven by big-ship iron ore demand or by the smaller vessel classes. The two indices often move together, but the BCI typically shows larger amplitude swings.

How often is the Baltic Capesize Index updated?

The Baltic Capesize Index updates once per London business day, alongside the rest of the Baltic Exchange dry-bulk indices. Expect roughly one new value per weekday; there is no intraday update. OilPriceAPI applies a daily-cadence freshness check to the Capesize code so monitoring does not false-alarm overnight or over weekends. Capesize data on OilPriceAPI began publishing recently — check the live value and timestamp on this page for the current coverage window before relying on historical depth.

Who uses the BCI?

• Iron ore and coal traders exposed to long-haul Capesize routes
• Dry-bulk shipowners and operators benchmarking the most volatile vessel class
• Analysts decomposing the Baltic Dry Index into its vessel-class drivers
• Freight derivative (FFA) desks pricing Capesize exposure

How do I get Baltic Capesize Index data via API?

Request the latest BCI value from the OilPriceAPI REST endpoint using the code BALTIC_CAPESIZE_INDEX. Sign up for a free API key, then call:

curl "https://api.oilpriceapi.com/v1/prices/latest?by_code=BALTIC_CAPESIZE_INDEX" \
  -H "Authorization: Token YOUR_API_KEY"

The response is JSON with the current value, currency/unit and a timestamp. Poll on the index's publish cadence — every london business day (daily) — rather than every minute.

Is Baltic Capesize Index data available as CSV?

Yes. Every price endpoint accepts format=csv and responds with the content type text/csv and a header row, instead of JSON. Same request, same publish cadence — one extra parameter:

curl "https://api.oilpriceapi.com/v1/prices/latest?by_code=BALTIC_CAPESIZE_INDEX&format=csv" \
  -H "Authorization: Token YOUR_API_KEY"

You can confirm the format before signing up. This demo request needs no API key and returns real CSV:

curl "https://api.oilpriceapi.com/v1/demo/prices?format=csv"

It answers with the content type text/csv and a header row, followed by one row per series. Use it to confirm that CSV is real before you sign up — but build your parser against the price endpoint, not against the demo: the two return different columns. The demo set also covers oil benchmarks only and does not include the freight indices.

code,name,price,currency,updated_at,change_24h,source

price,formatted,currency,code,created_at,updated_at,type,unit,source,as_of,collected_at,synthetic,stale,age_days

The freshness field on the authenticated response is created_at, and there is no name or change_24h column. Both header rows above were taken from live responses on 2026-08-21; treat column order as stable but read by name, not by index.

When the BCI is not the right data