Fuel surcharges for international air express shipments in February have remained at the samelevel as last month in most cases with just a few exceptions, CEP-Research analysis shows.
In January, surcharges showed a mixed trend with falls in some markets in compensation for ratesincreases but several increases in other regions. The mixed development followed a downward trendin surcharge levels in December last year as the result of falling oil prices over the previousmonths.
This month, in Europe all four integrators UPS, DHL, TNT and FedEx kept their surchargesunchanged. FedEx and DHL surcharges remained at 17%, UPS at 15.5% and TNT kept its regionalsurcharge at 20% this month.
In the USA, UPS was the only integrator to reduce its surcharge from 11% in January to 10.5% inFebruary while FedEx and DHL surcharges both remained at the January level with 10%.
In Asia Pacific, the DHL surcharge remained at 22.5% this month. The UPS surcharge for Februarywas unchanged at 17.5% and FedEx also kept its Asian surcharge at the January level of 18.5%. TNTwas the only company from the big four to reduce its surcharge for Asia Pacific, Middle East andAfrica from 20% in January to 19.5% in February.
The air express fuel surcharges for February 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.
Oil prices fell today as energy prices took their cues from sinking stock markets in Europe,Asia and Wall Street. Brent crude oil futures in London fell 46 cents to $115.14 in the morningwhile WTI crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange dropped nine cents to $96.08 a barrel.
Since mid-December, when WTI traded at near $86 a barrel, oil prices had risen steadily on hopesfor an improving global economy, according to media reports. But US stock indexes experienced bigdeclines yesterday amid concerns about political stability in Italy and Spain. However, datapublished today are showing rising activity in the manufacturing and services sectors in 17European Union countries.
