Fuel surcharges for international air express shipments have fallen this month except for theTNT surcharges in UK and Europe after a mixed trend in August, CEP-Research analysis shows.
In Europe, FedEx and UPS surcharges both dropped to 13% in September from 13.5% last month. DHLalso decreased its European fuel surcharge slightly to 12.5% for the period 5 September – 2 Octoberfrom 13% in August. In contrast, the TNT Express European surcharge has been slightly increased to16.5% in September from 16% in August, while its separate surcharge for the UK also rose to 9.5%from 9% in August.
In the USA, FedEx Express, UPS and DHL Express have all reduced their September fuel surchargesfor domestic and international air express shipments to 7% from 7.5% last month.
In Asia, all integrators reduced their surcharges in September. DHL fell from 17% in August to16.5% in September. Similarly, UPS decreased its surcharge to 15.5% effective from 6 Septemberonwards from 16% in August. The TNT surcharge also fell to 13.5% for the period 5 September – 2October from 14% in August. FedEx, whose surcharges vary by country in Asia, fell to 10.5% inSeptember from 11% in August both in Singapore and Hong Kong.
The air express fuel surcharges for September reflect the oil price level two months ago. Thefour leading express carriers calculate their surcharges based on indices showing the previousmonth’s oil price level and announce them in advance for the following month. This results in atwo-month time lag between prices and the surcharge level.
Compared to August when oil prices soared above $80, crude oil was slightly down trading at$77.40 a barrel today on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent Crude in London was higher at$79.22 a barrel.
Crude markets have largely shrugged off fears of crude supply disruptions following the closureof a pipeline near Chicago due to a leak, though it still wasn’t clear when the pipeline could berestarted. Traders are waiting for the update on the US economic data to be released later in theday, US media reported.
