With a score of 45.9, the January edition of the Stifel Logistics Confidence Index has marked a monthly recovery in an otherwise gloomy tale of decline.

With a score of 45.4, the December edition of the Stifel Index has recorded its lowest-ever total, amidst a continued pattern of decline.

For the sixth month in succession, the Stifel Logistics Confidence Index declined. This trend resulted in the November Index score falling to the lowest registered for three years. The monthly decline registered in airfreight was more moderate than that witnessed in sea freight; the former was down by 0.4 points to 48.9, whilst the latter dropped 2.8 points, amounting to 46.1.

The European road freight market grew by 2.9 percent in 2014, but markets there have distinctly different dynamics in both supply and demand, which means no single, cohesive European road freight market exists.

The Stifel Logistics Confidence Index fell into a fifth consecutive month of decline in October. Significantly, the index has now fallen beneath the neutral 50 point mark for the first time since January 2013, with confidence in both the sea freight and airfreight markets plummeting. The Logistics Situation for airfreight was especially bad, declining by 3.2 points to 45.7. The same trends that influenced last month's decline are persisting, with weak emerging market growth, China's financial crisis, and the Chinese shift towards domestic consumption all influencing the trajectory of the index.

The Stifel Logistics Confidence Index saw a fourth consecutive month of decline in September. While the Index, at 51.5, remains above the neutral 50 mark, times may be gloomier that the numbers alone suggest.

A combination of the erratic global air and sea freight market, a growing shift in geographic focus towards the regional and the application of advanced technology and data analysis to the market is bringing the fate of the traditional freight forwarding model into question.

The consumer packaged goods sector is a giant with global sales exceeding $550bn. The markets that make up this global sector are diverse in character and research for Ti's latest report, Global CPG Logistics 2015, has identified the key differences between them.

The global contract logistics market grew by 5.4 percent in 2014, to reach 177.6bn euro ($199bn), according to a report from Transport Intelligence. If prices and exchange rates were held constant at 2013 levels (real growth), then the market would have expanded by 4.4 percent. Overall, contract logistics growth of 5.4 percent compares favourably to growth of 2.8 percent in 2013.