Water

By Daryl Delano -- Logistics Management, 6/1/1998

Average prices charged for waterborne freight movements fell 0.7% between March and April--a drop that can be attributed primarily to the deep-sea foreign transport sectors. After showing very little movement for the better part of four years, the price index for inbound freight plunged 6.7% during April. Outbound liner charges also dropped over the month, although by a much smaller amount. The Asian economic crisis clearly has begun to affect liner freight prices.

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

Inbound liner -6.7 -4.6 -6.0

Outbound liner -0.2 -0.7 -1.3

Domestic deep sea -0.1 -6.1 -6.0

Grt. Lks.-St. Lawrence +0.5 +1.1 +1.5

Mississippi River -0.3 -13.7 -2.8