Air express surcharges continue to fall in March with particularly low US levels

Fuel surcharges for international air express shipments have continued to fall this month, withdramatically low levels in the USA and DHL keeping its US surcharge at zero in direct response to

In the USA, DHL left its February surcharge unchanged at the exceptional 0% level this month,down from 4.5% in January. Even though FedEx didn’t go that far, its surcharge also fell to adramatically low level of 1.5% in March, down from 3.5% in February and 4.5% in January. The UPSsurcharge also dropped this month but to a slightly higher level of 3.5%, down from 5% inFebruary.

In Europe, all the integrators also reduced their surcharges although maintaining them at aconsiderably higher level than in the USA. FedEx and DHL both reduced their surcharges to 10% inMarch, down from 12% in February. Similarly, the UPS surcharge fell to 10.75% this month, also downfrom 12% in February. TNT also reduced its European surcharge from 15% to 13.25% this month.

In Asia Pacific, all the four integrators reduced their surcharges as well. The UPS and FedExsurcharges both fell to 8.5% in March, down from 11% in February and 15% in January. The DHLsurcharge was at a slightly higher level of 11% this month but still down from 13% in February and17% in January. TNT’s Asian surcharge dropped from 14.75% to 13% this month.

Global oil prices experienced some ups and downs over the last month but remained fairly stableoverall. WTI crude traded at $50.00 this morning, at about the same level as a month ago. Brentcrude even showed a slightly upward tendency with $58.53 this morning, up from around $53 in earlyFebruary. Compared to July 2014, however, when Brent crude traded at $115 and WTI crude above $103,oil prices have fallen dramatically by around 50%.

Amid the ongoing dramatic oil price drop, two oil companies based in Texas – BPZ Resources andDune Energy – filed for bankruptcy this week.

The air express fuel surcharges for March reflect the respective oil price levels two monthsago. The four integrators calculate their surcharges based on indices showing the previous month’soil price level and announce them in advance for the following month. This results in a two-monthtime lag between the fuel price and surcharge change.