Fuel surcharges for international air express shipments have dropped in most cases this monthafter increasing or remaining at the same level in August, with oil prices having fallen recently
due to reduced political tensions.In Europe, FedEx and TNT reduced their September surcharge while DHL and UPS were unchanged. TheFedEx surcharge dropped from 17% in August to 16.5% this month. TNT also reduced its surcharge to20% in September from 20.5% last month. DHL kept its surcharge on the August level of 16.5% inSeptember while UPS maintained a 16% fuel surcharge.
In the USA, DHL and FedEx both reduced their express surcharges from 9.5% in August to 9% thismonth. The UPS surcharge also went down to 10% from 10.5% in August.
In Asia Pacific, all the four integrators reduced their surcharges in September. The FedExsurcharge went down from 18% in August to 17.5% this month, while DHL put its surcharge down to21.5% in September from 22% last month. The UPS and TNT surcharges both dropped from 20% in Augustto 19.5% in September.
Global oil prices have shown a mixed trend over the last month, with WTI crude experiencing someups and downs with a slight downward tendency while Brent crude showed a substantial decline. Itfell from over $102.5 a month ago to $98.39 this morning. Compared to July when it traded at $115,this represents a big slump in the crude oil price. Similarly, WTI crude traded at a low level of$92.41 this morning, compared to two months ago when it was trading above $103.
Yesterday, oil prices in Asia fell on the upcoming release today of the September purchasingmanagers index (PMI) for the Chinese manufacturing sector, which was expected to drop back to 50.0points from 50.2 in August. The index tracks manufacturing activity in China’s factories andworkshops and is considered as a reliable indicator of the country’s economic health, with a figureabove 50 indicating growth.
The air express fuel surcharges for September reflect the oil price level two months ago. Thefour integrators calculate their surcharges based on indices showing the previous month’s oil pricelevel and announce them in advance for the following month. This results in a two-month time lagbetween the fuel price and surcharge change.
