Stifel: Industry confidence index remains low, but crawls closer to neutral reading

The monthly index, which portrays confidence levels in ocean freight and airfreight markets, was still below the neutral 50-point mark in June, indicating a tough market for forwarders.    The Stifel Logistics Confidence Index, a measure of the performance of the forwarding industry in Europe and North America, remained in negative territory in June.
   The index is compiled monthly by London-based consultancy Transport Intelligence (Ti). Although the index remained negative in June, the reading edged towards the neutral 50-point mark.
   Alliances, mergers and acquisitions represent the main points of interest in the global container shipping industry, Stifel and Ti said.
   “As a result of the current environment of fierce competition amongst carriers, freight rates continue to decline,” the companies said.
   Meanwhile, Stifel and Ti noted that 2016 is likely to be another weak year for airfreight, according to indications from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The overall weakness of demand, coupled with continued capacity growth, is likely to continue throughout the year, IATA added.
   The airfreight logistics confidence Index once more gained 0.4 points, totalling 50.4 for June 2016. This is 9.2 points lower than in June 2015, and 3.4 points beneath June 2014.
   The sea freight logistics confidence index improved by 3.1 points, to 47.6. This rise was precipitated by an improvement of 1.5 in the “present situation” index, and growth of 4.6 points in the “expected situation” index.