November 2014 posted good air cargo volume growth of 4.3% with the Asia-U.S. market proving to be the biggest contributor to the stronger traffic, although year-over-year expansion slowed overall compared to earlier months, according to WorldACD. The lower volume growth was owing to the fact that in 2013, November had shown a large jump over October, said the airfreight market research group.
Worldwide November 2014 yields grew 1.7% to again top those for October, but went down by 4% year-over-year. However, yield excluding surcharges dropped less, a sign that changing fuel surcharges may begin to have an influence, said the industry monitor.
In terms of trade markets, the trans-Pacific market chalked up the biggest tonnage jump for the month, as the congestion drama at U.S. ports along the west coast continued to play out. Air cargo revenues ex-U.S. dropped by 9% month-over-month across the Pacific, but from Asia-Pacific to North America, an impressive 17% growth in revenues was recorded for November compared to October, accompanied by a 9% yield increase.
Africa and Latin America followed with year-over-year volume growth of over 7%. Europe suffered with revenues declining by more than 5%, both month-over-month and year-over-year.
In cargo categories, the Middle East & South Asia further consolidated its second position in pharmaceuticals (after Europe), by showing a year-over-year revenue growth in this category of 17%, with slightly climbing yields. In the markets for perishables, Africa easily outperformed the other origin regions, registering a 15% revenue growth, where other regions combined registered growth of around 5%.
Cargo forwarding scene
Smaller forwarders performed a bit better year-over-year than the world’s largest. The top five—DHL Global Forwarding, Kuehne + Nagel, DB Schenker, Expeditors, and Panalpina—did not fare too well. On the other end of the range, Hellmann and Fashion Logistics did particularly well, while large Asian forwarders, especially Yusen, Sinotrans, Beijing Global Sky Horse, and CTS Int’l had a good month owing to the strong growth ex-Asia Pacific.
Noting the “great volatility” in the forwarder scene, WorldACD observed that among the large forwarders, growth figures of 40% and higher are just as normal as big declines in market share. “Expeditors, Panalpina, GAC Logistics and Damco are growing fast, mostly at the expense of regional forwarders, but certainly also hurting a number of the world’s largest,” it stated.
Photo: Kentaro lemoto
