Air freight rates rise in February

According to UK-based shipping consultancy Drewry, average air freight rates on major east-west routes rose slightly in February.

As shown in the chart, rates (based on a value of 100 for May 2012) rose modestly through much of 2014, before spiking dramatically in November and then falling back even more steeply in December and January.

The 2.2 point index gain in February brings the index to 101.8. On a year-over-year basis, February 2015 was up 5.6 points from February 2014.

Drewry says it expects pricing to soften through March, due to lower volumes following the Lunar New Year holiday and the easing of congestion at the US West Coast ocean ports. However, beginning in April, Drewry expects rates to recover as air freight demand picks back up.

This index is a weighted average of all-in air freight “buy rates” paid by forwarders to airlines for standard deferred airport-to-airport air freight services on 21 major East-West routes for cargoes above 1,000 kg. Rates are expressed in $/kg and include three components: the base rate, the fuel surcharge and the security surcharge. They exclude door delivery costs. For more details, see Drewry Sea & Air Shipper Insight, www.drewry.co.uk