Transport and storage, price indices, Q2 2009

Sea transport is the only one of the three indices facing a remarkable decline compared to the same quarter one year ago.

Decline in price for freight transport by road

Within freight transport by road, the prices for mixed goods/container goods declined the most; by 0.9 per cent. This was closely followed by dry goods in bulk and frozen or refrigerated goods, which declined by 0.8 and 0.6 per cent respectively. Transport prices for petroleum products, other gases and liquids, and other transportation in special vehicles were, meanwhile, barely changed with a decline between 0.1 and 0.2 per cent relative to the previous quarter. The aggregate index for freight transport by road was 117.2 for the 2^{n d} quarter of 2009. The price index grew by 2.1 per cent since the 2^{n d t} quarter of 2008, which is the lowest annual growth since the index inception.

Ocean transport of dry bulk continues to increase

Ocean transport with goods increased by 5.8 per cent compared to the last quarter. This is due to a price increase in ocean transport of dry bulk by 32.9 per cent. However, compared to the top rate registered in the same quarter one year ago this is down 58.4 per cent. The remaining sub indices within ocean transport all decreased compared to the 1^{s t} quarter of 2009, whereas the most remarkable one was within ocean transport of crude oil and oil products, which is down by 25.3 per cent.

The total index for sea transport is down 7.1 per cent compared to the same quarter one year ago.

Stability in storage prices

The price index for storage services remains fairly unchanged, with a nominal growth amounting to 0.4 per cent in the period 1^{s t} quarter 2009 to 2^{n d} quarter 2009. The index grew by 17.4 per cent since 2006 and grew by 4.6 relative to the same quarter in the preceding year.