JOC Staff | Sep 08, 2011 6:34PM EDT
The Drewry Air Freight Price Index for rates out of Asia fell 9.3 percent in July from the month before to its lowest level since February as the market felt the impact of weak demand and plentiful capacity.
The index, which measures rates from Shanghai to major world gateways, also fell 9 percent from the same month a year ago, the ninth straight year-over-year decline since air freight pricing reached a high point in October 2010.
At 99.1, the index has fallen nearly 17 percent since then and hasn’t been this low since February, when shipping slowed down sharply during the Lunar New Year celebration in Asia.
The weaker pricing comes as capacity is overtaking shipping volume in Asia.
Freight traffic for Asia airlines was down 3.4 percent in the first seven months of this year even though capacity grew 1.7 percent over the same period a year ago, according to the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines. Although traffic grew from June to July, the capacity grew even faster, sending the freight load factor down to 66.9 percent, the lowest point this year.
