Business, Freight News

Seafreight signs worrying, says Stifel

[ June 2, 2015   //   Chris ]

There has been “a worrisome decline” in optimism among seafreight users, according to the May issue of the the Stifel Logistics Confidence Index. It decline by 2.6 points to 47.7, the first time since October 2013 that the present sea freight sub-index fell below the 50 level. Furthermore, three of the four trade lanes tracked are currently below 50, which suggests contraction.
But the six-month outlook was a bit more positive with all lanes noting gains. Europe to Asia noted the biggest gain at 3.0 points to 66.2 followed by Europe to US, up 2.7 points to 65.7. Asia to Europe was up 1.9 points to 64.0 and finally US to Europe increased 0.7 points to 4.7. For all lanes, the six-month outlook for sea freight was up 2.1 points to 62.9.
The six-month outlook for airfreight also appears bright, the index gaining 2.8 points to 63.4. Favorable currency rates probably helped boost the Europe to Asia and Europe to US trade lanes both noting big gains from April, up 7.0 and 3.0 points respectively (58.2 and 62.7). The only declining trade lane for the month was recorded for Asia to Europe, down 2.0 points to 52.6. The US to Europe lane was up 0.7 points to 48.1 to complete the trade lane list. This marks the second month in a row for contraction along the US to Europe lane, most likely due to the strong US dollar.
To take part in the latest Stifel Logistics Confidence Index: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HTMGPFP

Tags: Stifel