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.

Despite its history of political unrest and military juntas, the nation of Thailand is emerging as a major Southeast Asian logistics hub that could be worth nearly $100bn in revenue over the next few years, according to a December 2015 study released by worldwide consultants Frost & Sullivan.

Further widening of the supply-demand imbalance at the trade route level and insufficient measures to reduce ship capacity will lead to an acceleration of freight rate reductions and industry-wide losses in 2016, according to the latest Container Forecaster report published by global shipping consultancy Drewry.

Ocean freight rates for cargo moving under contracts on the major East-West trade routes saw another reduction in the last quarter of 2015, according to Drewry's Benchmarking Club, a closed user group of multinational retailers and manufacturers who closely monitor their contract freight rates.

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.

Containership reliability took a small step backwards in October as the average on-time performance across all trades reached 77.9 percent, according to Carrier Performance Insight, the online schedule reliability tool provided by Drewry Supply Chain Advisors.

Import cargo volume at the nation's major retail container ports is expected to increase 8.3 percent this month over the same time last year as consumers begin their holiday shopping, according to the monthly Global Port Tracker report released by the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates.

IATA's global head of cargo, Glyn Hughes, said the logistics business is not keeping up with technology - a sentiment that's been expressed before, but one he said cannot be emphasized enough. Hughes also called for more communication across the airfreight supply chain.