Air cargo peak season volume healthiest in years
Greg Knowler, Senior Asia Editor | Jan 04, 2017 11:42PM ESTPrint
Air cargo volume growth was the strongest in Asia, but other regions of the world also reported strong gains.
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Air cargo has had its best peak season in years with a significant acceleration of volume growth and yield improvement since the summer, according to the latest industry data.
Exports from China and Hong Kong played a major role in the positive end-of-year developments, said WorldACD Market Data. In the main markets from Asia Pacific, between August and November the US$-yield to North America rose by 25 percent, and to Europe by 30 percent.
Air cargo has not seen such seasonal yield improvements since 2009, the analyst said. Volume increases since the summer were spectacular in markets from Hong Kong (up 30 percent year-over-year) and Shanghai (up 17 percent), also higher than in previous years. Improvements in the global cargo yield to the US$ yield grew in November by 3.9 percent over the previous month, and by 8.7 percent compared with August.
WorldACD labeled this year's peak season a success. “Although growth was concentrated in Asia Pacific, we have no doubt that the typical perishables exporters from Egypt, the Pacific, Chile, and Colombia will also subscribe to this view, as their volume increase for perishables in the period [from] October [to] November ranged between 16 percent [Chile] and 34 percent [Egypt] year-over-year,” the analyst said.
Deviating from the trend in earlier months, the year-over-year growth in direct ton kilometers was slightly higher in November, indicating a smaller shift towards longer haul traffic than in previous months. One of the influencing factors, WorldACD said in its report, was a boom in the short-haul intra-Asia traffic in November that recorded a 15 year-over-year growth.
Traffic figures for November by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines showed international air cargo demand, measured in freight tonne kilometres, climbing 5.3 percent compared with the same month last year, underpinned by broad-based improvements in new export orders.
Combined with a 3.2 percent increase in offered freight capacity, the average international freight load factor gained 1.4 percentage points to reach the year's monthly high of 66.9 percent, the AAPA said in a statement.
Andrew Herdman, AAPA director general, said the region's carriers had a modest but progressive recovery in international air cargo demand this year, with volume growth of 1.2 percent for the first 11 months of 2016.
"Air cargo markets picked up modestly during the course of the year, but rates remain highly competitive, reflecting soft global trade conditions,” he said.
“The general outlook for the global economy in 2017, including further growth in demand for air travel, remains reasonably positive, but airlines will need to be vigilant over costs, given fluctuations in oil prices as well as exchange rate volatility."
Looking at longer-term trends in the world's main geographical markets, WorldACD Market Data found an interesting development in the years since 2010. Whereas most markets continued to show the directional balance [or imbalance] they already had in 2010, the market between Europe and Asia Pacific did not.
“In six years, there was hardly any growth from Asia Pacific to Europe, but growth was 39 percent in the opposite direction, creating a reversal of the balance: air cargo volumes from Europe to Asia Pacific have now overtaken the volumes in the opposite direction, speaking for the increasing purchasing power of Asia,” the analyst said.
Exports from China and Hong Kong played a major role in the positive end-of-year developments, said WorldACD Market Data. In the main markets from Asia Pacific, between August and November the US$-yield to North America rose by 25 percent, and to Europe by 30 percent.
Air cargo has not seen such seasonal yield improvements since 2009, the analyst said. Volume increases since the summer were spectacular in markets from Hong Kong (up 30 percent year-over-year) and Shanghai (up 17 percent), also higher than in previous years. Improvements in the global cargo yield to the US$ yield grew in November by 3.9 percent over the previous month, and by 8.7 percent compared with August.
WorldACD labeled this year's peak season a success. “Although growth was concentrated in Asia Pacific, we have no doubt that the typical perishables exporters from Egypt, the Pacific, Chile, and Colombia will also subscribe to this view, as their volume increase for perishables in the period [from] October [to] November ranged between 16 percent [Chile] and 34 percent [Egypt] year-over-year,” the analyst said.
Deviating from the trend in earlier months, the year-over-year growth in direct ton kilometers was slightly higher in November, indicating a smaller shift towards longer haul traffic than in previous months. One of the influencing factors, WorldACD said in its report, was a boom in the short-haul intra-Asia traffic in November that recorded a 15 year-over-year growth.
Traffic figures for November by the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines showed international air cargo demand, measured in freight tonne kilometres, climbing 5.3 percent compared with the same month last year, underpinned by broad-based improvements in new export orders.
Combined with a 3.2 percent increase in offered freight capacity, the average international freight load factor gained 1.4 percentage points to reach the year's monthly high of 66.9 percent, the AAPA said in a statement.
Andrew Herdman, AAPA director general, said the region's carriers had a modest but progressive recovery in international air cargo demand this year, with volume growth of 1.2 percent for the first 11 months of 2016.
"Air cargo markets picked up modestly during the course of the year, but rates remain highly competitive, reflecting soft global trade conditions,” he said.
“The general outlook for the global economy in 2017, including further growth in demand for air travel, remains reasonably positive, but airlines will need to be vigilant over costs, given fluctuations in oil prices as well as exchange rate volatility."
Looking at longer-term trends in the world's main geographical markets, WorldACD Market Data found an interesting development in the years since 2010. Whereas most markets continued to show the directional balance [or imbalance] they already had in 2010, the market between Europe and Asia Pacific did not.
“In six years, there was hardly any growth from Asia Pacific to Europe, but growth was 39 percent in the opposite direction, creating a reversal of the balance: air cargo volumes from Europe to Asia Pacific have now overtaken the volumes in the opposite direction, speaking for the increasing purchasing power of Asia,” the analyst said.
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