The Stifel Logistics Confidence Index for July appears to mirror an uncertain economic environment. Since February of this year, the overall Index has increased one month and then declined the next reaching its high so far this year in May at 57.9. For the current month, the index is up 0.9 points over June to 56.1.
World scheduled airfreight traffic, measured in freight tonne kilometers, is expected to grow by 3.7 percent in 2014, according to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Independent specialist advisors Drewry and global forwarder network The WACO System have expanded their cooperation agreement to include exchanging and sharing market intelligence in the air cargo market.
Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services has awarded TNT Express the transportation contact to ship mission-critical aviation parts within Germany. As part of the deal, TNT Express collects the parts from Bombardier's warehouse in Groß-Gerau between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. and delivers them to LBAS aircraft maintenance engineers and mechanics in Berlin Schoenefeld Airport the next morning before 6 a.m.
The Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) launched what it calls the most comprehensive supply chain security standards in TAPA's 17-year history to combat increasingly sophisticated thefts.
A lack of certainty appears to be the case within the freight forwarding market as momentum fails to take hold. In the latest findings, the Stifel Logistics Confidence Index slipped 2.7 points to 55.2. While still above the important 50-level, too many questions remain unanswered – will a strike be averted at the U.S. West Coast ports, what will happen within the sea freight market now that P3 alliance has collapsed? Is economic growth really slowing?
Total U.S. business logistics costs in 2013 rose to $1.39tr, a 2.3 percent increase from the previous year, according to the 25th Annual "State of Logistics Report" released by the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals and presented by Penske Logistics, at a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Logistics as a percent of U.S. gross domestic product declined for the second year in a row, indicating that the logistics sector is not keeping pace with the growth in the overall economy.
