Worldwide air cargo volume recorded a small year-on-year growth in October of 2.0% after declining in September, with Asia-Pacific posting the best outgoing and incoming growth rates, according to the latest figures from WorldACD.
Asia-Pacific registered outgoing and incoming air cargo growth percentages of 4.2% and 2.7%, respectively.
Europe followed with corresponding growth percentages of 0.5% and 2.7%, and MESA (Middle East & South Asia) was in third place with 3.4% and 0.1%, respectively.
In the other areas, Africa and North America grew in incoming but contracted in outgoing traffic, while Central & South America showed the opposite trend.
Both in October and in the -year-to-date, the highest region-to-region growth was observed from Central & South America to Asia-Pacific (growing 33% in October), mainly driven by the export of seafood.
The worldwide air cargo yield moved up to US$1.99 in October 2018, which is 7% higher than in October 2017, and 3 cents higher than in September 2018. Measured in euros, the worldwide yield increased by 10% year-over-year.
The origin Asia-Pacific recorded the largest year-on-year yield increase (10.4%), mainly caused by a 14.3% yield growth in the market from Asia-Pacific to North America.
The origins Africa and North America increased yields by 8.5% and 6.8%, respectively. Other areas saw a more modest increase.
For the year 2018, through the month of October, yield increase year-over-year stands at 13.4%, accompanied by a volume growth year-over-year of 3.1%.
On the effects of the U.S.-China trade war, in 2018 through October, China’s total outbound air cargo grew year-on-year by 1.9% and the U.S.’s by 4.9% (total worldwide growth was 3.1%). China to U.S. and U.S. to China were up by 3% and 1%, respectively.
“In other words, China to USA grew faster than China outbound worldwide, whilst the opposite was true for the USA to China,” said the report.
For September and October, in September, China to U.S. was up by 2.1% year-on-year, while U.S. to China was up by 0.7%. But October saw China to U.S. up by 4.5%, and U.S. to China down by the same percentage.
“Taking the totals for the two months for both directions together, we noted a year-on-year growth of 1.9%, well above the world average of 0.9%,” said WorldACD.
The 4.5% year-on-year growth in air cargo from China to the U.S. was largely fueled by a rise in the transport of vulnerable and high-tech goods. This sector grew by a tremendous 30.5% year-on-year, much more than the usual seasonal upswing, which the report said is “more likely a case of US businesses stocking up before [tariffs] really start to bite.”
Photo: StuartMiles
