Airfreight seems to have the edge on seafreight demand, per the June Stifel Logistics Confidence Index (LCI). Strong airfreight demand drove the LCI to 55.6 points in June 2015, a 0.1 point rise over the same month last year. Meanwhile, the seafreight index for June 2015 fell by 0.9 points compared with June 2014.
The June 2015 figure marks 12 consecutive months of LCI expansion, with only the Europe-to-U.S. trade lane decreasing. The index covers four trade lanes – the other three are Europe-to-Asia, Asia-to-Europe, and U.S.-to-Europe. The index is calculated based on responses from logistics professionals.
Looking ahead, the average confidence in airfreight for the rest of this year is 59.6 points, per the respondents, an increase of 0.1 point over May, 5.8 points over June 2014 and 10.2 points above the June 2013 figure. For the six month outlook, the expected situation index for total airfreight increased 0.2 points to 63.6.
The index reported that, among the European-based forwarders, Panalpina is most likely to benefit from a robust airfreight environment, but it still maintained a hold rating on the company’s stock. It also hold-rated Kuehne + Nagle, although it stated that it is the most stable and highest-quality forwarding operation among the three, with DHL being the third and the best poised to benefit from improvements in the European economy.