Drewry's East-West Air Freight Price Index, a weighted average of airfreight rates across 21 East-West trades, fell by 2.7 points in June to 94.3 points. Some erosion in pricing was anticipated as the trade entered the high season for passenger demand which tends to depress air cargo load factors. But June's fall brought the index down to its lowest level since it was launched in May 2012.

"We expect airfreight pricing to remain under pressure until the end of this holiday season, after which carriers are expected to rein in capacity which should buoy rates," said Simon Heaney, research manager at Drewry.

Despite the fall in airfreight pricing, Drewry's East-West Air Freight Price Multiplier jumped 1.2 points to 15.3, to reach its highest level since Drewry first started publishing its Multiplier in May 2012.

Container shipping rates continued their fall of previous months, losing 10 percent on East-West trades in June (though they have since recovered in July), so widening the price differential between the two modes of transport.

Sea & Air Shipper Insight is a monthly report published by Drewry Maritime Research and is priced at £895.

Source: Drewry