Water

By Daryl Delano -- Logistics Management, 4/1/1998

Average prices charged for water-borne freight fell sharply for the second straight month during February. Although February saw little change in prices for either inbound or outbound liner freight movements, the index for the domestic deep-sea category plunged 7.0 percent. We expect fallout from the Asian economic crisis to exert downward pressure on inbound and outbound liner prices in the months ahead, and for overall water-freight inflation to be only 0.5 percent for year 1998.

% CHANGE VS.: 1 month ago 6 mos. ago 1 yr. ago

Inbound liner +0.1 +0.1 0.0

Outbound liner 0.0 -1.8 -0.9

Domestic deep sea -7.0 -10.2 -9.1

Grt. Lks.-St. Lawrence +0.4 +2.1 +3.5

Mississippi River +1.3 0.0 -2.9