Fuel surcharges for international air express shipments fell in August after continuously rising over the last few months, with the exception of the DHL USA surcharge which remained unchanged, CEP-Research analysis has shown.
In Europe, all the integrators reduced their surcharges this month. The UPS surcharge fell to 11.75% in August, down from 12.25% last month. The FedEx European surcharge also decreased from 12% in July to 11.5% this month – back to the same level in June. DHL’s European surcharge fell by a whole percentage point from 13.5% in July to 12.5% this month. TNT reduced its European surcharge slightly to 15% in August, down from 15.25% last month.
In the USA, DHL Express again left its surcharge unchanged at the exceptional 0% level, for the seventh month in a row. The FedEx surcharge dropped back to 3% for the period of Aug. 3 – Sept. 6, down from 4% in July. The UPS surcharge also fell from 5.25% last month to 4.75% in August. The TNT surcharge in the USA dropped back from 6% in August to 5% in July as it was already the case in June.
In Asia Pacific, all the four integrators reduced their surcharges as well. The FedEx surcharge went down from 11% in July to 10.5% this month. The UPS surcharge which was at the 11. 5% level last month went down by one percentage point to 10.5% in August. The DHL surcharge also decreased from 13.5% to 12.5% this month, in the same way as the company’s surcharge in Europe. TNT’s Asian surcharge slightly dropped from 15% last month to 14.75% in August.
Global oil prices showed a clear downward trend over the last month. WTI crude traded at $45.74 this morning, down from over $50 a month ago and nearly $60 two months ago. Similarly, Brent crude also went down trading at $49.99 this morning, compared to over $56 a month ago and nearly $64 two months ago. These figures are extremely low compared to July 2014 when Brent crude traded at $115 and WTI crude above $103.
Earlier this week, oil prices reached a six-month low since January slipping below the $50 level on data showing that Chinese manufacturing growth unexpectedly stalled in July. Today, the prices are trading higher ahead of the weekly US crude oil inventory data that are due to come out later in the day. Last week, they fell below market expectations and provided a short-term boost to the oil prices.
However, a sharp recovery in the oil prices is unlikely due to a production overhang that keeps them down. According to a Commerzbank report, there is an oversupply of 1.5 million to 2.0 million barrel per day generated by member nations of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
The air express fuel surcharges for August 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.
