An analysis of the latest available port, airport and trade volume data, company news and Ti’s Logistics Confidence Index survey data suggests that international trade and logistics volumes were buoyant in Q1.
This is according to the freely available and newly published Ti-ASR Trade and Logistics Tracker, a monthly review of trade and logistics data which evaluates market conditions.
On top of encouraging international volume data, sustained robust growth rates of industrial production and retail sales volumes in February were favourable indicators for domestic logistics volumes.
The Tracker also features the ASR-Ti Global Logistics Index, a monitor of the stock prices of 60 logistics providers, designed to function as a ‘DJ Transports for the 21st Century’.
Finally, a round-up of the most interesting trade and logistics news stories from April as suggested by the authors are provided to wrap things up.
David Buckby, an Economist at Ti and co-author of the report, remarked: “The latest trade and logistics data offers further evidence that both domestic and international year-on-year logistics volume growth has been considerably better in the first few months of 2017 than in 2016. Company data is particularly encouraging, with Kuehne + Nagel having a banner quarter for volumes in Q1 2017. Its comments suggest that the market did well too, with sea freight volume growing by around 4% year-on-year while air freight growth was sharply up to about 7%.”
Zahra Ward-Murphy, co-author and Equity Strategist at ASR, commented: “The improvement in global activity picked up by our logistics dataset from the middle of last year is not yet showing any obvious signs of abating. Positive momentum appears to have carried on through Q1, although there has been a lot of seasonal factors recently including timing of Easter, which may be somewhat flattering the March data. This month we are introducing the ASR-Ti Global Logistics Index, a DJ Transports for the 21st Century. We believe monitoring the narratives driving these stocks can complement our understanding of trends in trade and logistics.”
The document can be accessed here.
Source: Transport Intelligence, April 27, 2017
Author: Lilith Nagorski
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