Airfreight rates improved again in April led by improvements on services from Asia to North America.
The latest Sea and Air Shipper Insight report from Drewry, which uses a weighted average of buy rates across 21 trade lanes, showed that average east-west airfreight prices increased by 7.9% year on year in April to reach $2.86 per kg.
Prices are also up on the March level when forwarders were paying $2.81 per kg and February when they were at $2.73 per kg.
Normally prices around this time of year are flat or even decrease in line with seasonal demand patterns.
However, the strong improvement in traffic being recorded by airlines now also appears to be translated through in airfreight pricing as well.
Drewry warned there could be some fall back in May: “Led by higher rates out of Asia to North America, Drewry’s East-West Airfreight Price Index increased by 1.7% month-on-month in April.
“The index is now about 8% above where it stood in the same month last year, reflective of strong demand seen in the sector. Drewry expects to see a seasonal dip in airfreight rates in May, followed by a rebound in June.”
The rate improvements registered by Drewry are also reflected in figures from Tac Index.
