Worldwide air cargo tonnage grew by 1.8 percent only, but with the last quarter showing acceleration, 2013 figures from a provider of airfreight market data show.
Yields dropped by 3.6 percent last year, with pharma the only product category with a yield increase.
Volumes in December last year contracted compared with the good showing in November, but registered a 4 percent upswing year-over-year, reports WorldACD. With yields falling further, revenue worldwide increased by only 1 percent in December.
“Worldwide volumes have been flat since January 2011,” it added, noting that revenues peaked in the second half of 2012, and since then worldwide yields have come down steadily.
To regain a measure of health, the air cargo industry must halt this slide in the new year. “Clearly, the industry hopes that the upward trend of 2013’s last quarter will turn out to be the stepping stone for 2014,” it added.
Export volumes from the Middle East and South Asia (MESA) grew by 6.6 percent, with Europe contributing the highest absolute weight growth, both incoming and outgoing. Exports from the African continent gathered steam.
In absolute export growth per country, the top three were Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam.
Based on regional origins and destinations, the year-on-year change was most remarkable in the markets from South Asia to Western Europe, which rose 12 percent, and from Western Europe to China, up 8 percent.
Airlines from MESA were the clear winners in volume growth with a 9.7 percent hike recorded. “They managed this growth whilst not decreasing their overall yield, a remarkable accomplishment, thanks mainly to the change in route mix (i.e. a stronger-than-average growth in regions generating yields above their worldwide average),” said WorldACD.
Among global forwarders, Kuehne + Nagel performed best in 2013 as it climbed to second place worldwide by strongly growing its air cargo volume. Expeditors went up one step in the top 10 list. Of the top 30 forwarders, CT Freight and Damco showed the largest percentage increase; Hellmann, Agility and DSV showed lower percentages, but still well above the market.
A number of countries showed strength in outgoing and incoming air cargo combined last year. The following large air cargo countries maintained above-average volume growth: China, South Korea, Italy, Belgium, UAE, Germany, Malaysia, and the Netherlands.
Among the smaller air cargo countries in the past year, Iraq, Ukraine, Sri Lanka, and Nigeria showed volume growth ranging from 18 percent to 80 percent.
Photo: Alaskan Dude
