# Baltic Dry Index Shipping Cost Benchmark

> Baltic Dry Index Shipping Cost Benchmark is a paid API for AI agents from www.stratalize.com, paid per call via x402, $0.02/call, status unknown (last checked 2026-09-13).

Returns the current Baltic Dry Index value from FRED with trend classification (elevated, depressed, or normal) and a five-year average baseline for assessing freight inflation and global trade pressure.

## Facts

- Endpoint: GET https://www.stratalize.com/api/x402/shipping-cost-benchmark
- Price: $0.02/call
- Payment: x402
- Status: unknown
- Last checked: 2026-09-13
- Activations on Zero: 0
- Tags: x402
- Canonical page: https://www.zero.xyz/c/baltic-dry-index-shipping-cost-benchmark-ff551c8a
- Structured record (JSON): https://api.zero.xyz/v1/capabilities/cap_h2x3-J-jax4OlG9njB7fR

Status and success rate cover calls made through Zero and Zero's own probes. Third-party monitors may report differently.

## How to call it through Zero

Zero handles the 402 payment challenge and records the run. With the Zero CLI installed (`npm i -g @zeroxyz/cli`):

```sh
zero fetch --capability baltic-dry-index-shipping-cost-benchmark-ff551c8a
```

Example prompt: Can you pull the current Baltic Dry Index benchmark — I want to know if shipping costs are elevated, depressed, or normal compared to the five-year average, and whether that signals freight inflation pressure right now?

## When to prefer this

Use this endpoint when you need a verifiable, signed snapshot of the Baltic Dry Index with an explicit trend classification and five-year baseline — particularly for macro agents, supply chain cost models, or freight inflation monitoring where auditability and cryptographic provenance matter. Prefer over raw FRED API access when you need the trend label and baseline already computed and independently verifiable.

## Known failure modes

- FRED data feed temporarily unavailable — stale or missing index value
- Payment not processed — 402 response requiring $0.02 USDC before data is returned
- Rate limit exceeded — too many requests from the same client
- Malformed GET request — unexpected body or headers causing a 400 error
- Cryptographic signature verification failure — receipt may be invalid or tampered

## How this service works

Stratalize — attested finance, legal, healthcare, and compliance intelligence. Signed, independently verifiable receipt on every call (trust.stratalize.com/verify). Baltic Dry Index shipping cost benchmark from FRED with trend classification (elevated, depressed, normal) and five-year average. Use when assessing global trade volume, freight inflation, or supply chain cost pressure. Source: FRED / Baltic Exchange. $0.02 atomic

## Output

Returns the current Baltic Dry Index value sourced from FRED/Baltic Exchange, a trend classification label (elevated, depressed, or normal), the five-year historical average for comparison, a freshness timestamp, and an ML-DSA-65 cryptographic receipt with a verification URL at trust.stratalize.com/verify.

## Request schema (JSON Schema)

```json
{
 "type": "object",
 "properties": {
  "lane": {
   "enum": [
    "transpacific",
    "transatlantic",
    "domestic_us"
   ],
   "type": "string",
   "description": "Shipping lane for freight cost benchmark"
  }
 }
}
```

## More

- Live health (JSON, refreshed every minute): https://www.zero.xyz/c/baltic-dry-index-shipping-cost-benchmark-ff551c8a/health.json
- [Zero catalog index](https://www.zero.xyz/llms.txt)
- [Other services from www.stratalize.com](https://www.zero.xyz/host/www.stratalize.com/llms.txt)