THE Danske Bank European Freight Forwarding Index was up to 67 points in April from the 64 points it scored in March, reported the UK's Transport Intelligence.

The index rates movement on a scale of 0 to 100, with 50 showing expansion among the participating forwarders with rating below that measuring decline.

While European forwarders enjoyed growing volumes, their expectations fell for the first time this year to 66 points. said the report, also noting that it comes as year-on-year trade growth is expected to slacken in the face of rising fuel prices.

The Copenhagen-based Danske Bank index measures volume changes forwarders are currently handling and changes in volumes they expect in the next two months.

April growth was driven by greater air cargo volumes, which increased to 58 points from 47 the month before. Expectations for air freight remained the same at 68 points. Both road and ocean freight experienced stable April volumes with road moving up to 70 points from 68 the month before while ocean slipped to 69 from 71 in March.

Norway experienced the biggest drop to 40 in April, from 75 in March which was accompanied by a big decline in expectations. Britain also experienced declines in volumes and expectations, but Germany saw more optimistic expectations against a decline in April volumes. Switzerland experienced stable volumes but expectations doubled to 88 from 44 in March.