Fuel surcharges for international air express shipments fell again this month after a slight upswing in April following continuous drops over the last few months caused by the oil price slump, with DHL USA still keeping its surcharge at zero for the fourth month in a row, CEP-Research analysis has shown.
In the USA, DHL left its April surcharge unchanged at the exceptional 0% level this month, as it was already the case in April, March and February. The FedEx surcharge also dropped to a very low level of 2.5% in May, down from 3.5% in April. The UPS surcharge also fell to 4.25% this month, down from 4.75% last month.
In Europe, all the integrators also reduced their surcharges this month. FedEx and DHL surcharges both decreased to 11% in May, down from 11.5% in April. Similarly to FedEx and DHL, UPS decreased its European surcharge from 11.75% last month to 11.25% in May. TNT’s European surcharge also dropped to 14.25% during the 3-30 May period, down from 14.5% last month.
In Asia Pacific, all the four integrators reduced their surcharges as well. The FedEx surcharge went down from 10.5% in April to 9.5% this month. The UPS surcharge which was at the 10.75% level last month went down to 9.75% in May. The DHL surcharge fell from 12.5% to 11.5% this month. TNT’s Asian surcharge dropped from 14.25% last month to 14% in May.
Global oil prices showed an upward tendency overall over the last month, but with some minor ups and downs. WTI crude went up from just above $50 a month ago to nearly $60, trading at $58.93 this morning. Brent crude also showed an upward trend after falling to around $55 in the beginning of last month to increase to $66.45 this morning. Despite the upward trend, these figures are still very low compared to July 2014 when Brent crude traded at $115 and WTI crude above $103.
On Monday, oil prices slipped on a stronger dollar and China’s weakened manufacturing sector that announced its weakest performance in a year in April. China is the second-largest oil-consuming nation, behind the USA. China’s oil demand grew by 7.7% in the first quarter compared with the year before, which represents the biggest quarterly increase since 2012, according to Barclays Bank.
The air express fuel surcharges for May reflect the respective oil price levels two months ago. The four integrators calculate their surcharges based on indices showing the previous month’s oil price level and announce them in advance for the following month. This results in a two-month time lag between the fuel price and surcharge change.
