Combined air cargo traffic figures for January and February show promising growth at the start of 2017 as the strong performance in the last quarter of 2016 continued unabated in the new year, according to a recent report by WorldACD.
In the first two months of the year, cargo volumes rose 6.3% in kilograms and 7.4% in DTKs or direct ton kilometers. DTK is the measure that combines weight with the geographical distance between origin and destination of shipments.
The three largest regions grew more, both in outgoing and in incoming kilograms. Asia-Pacific’s volume went up 11%, North America’s 7%, and Europe’s 6.5%. Considering that 2016 was a leap year, the worldwide growth in January-February 2017 could be said to be even higher, at 8% in kilograms and 9.1% in DTKs.
WorldACD conjectured that one underlying factor for the growth could be the changed business pattern around the Chinese New Year.
As a rule, the air cargo market research service said, volumes in the “week after” drop considerably compared to the “last week before” the Lunar New Year, not only from Asia-Pacific but also worldwide.
This year, not only was the drop smaller, but business also returned more quickly to normal levels after the “week after,” the airfreight market data provider observed.
“Air cargo seems to ride the wave of an improving world economy, making for a good outlook for this year,” said the report. “Yet, we should caution against expectations of the present YoY growth percentages continuing. After all, the impressive growth percentages of the past half year were possible because of the relative weakness in the equivalent period one year earlier.”
Worldwide yield in US dollar terms for the January-February period declined 5.9% compared to the same period last year; in January-February 2016, the drop was 8.3% against the first two months of 2015.
“Viewing Jan/Feb 2017 against Jan/Feb 2016, we see a yield drop of 2.6% in USD-terms, but a 0.6 % yield rise, when measured in EUR. So, the good news is that Jan/Feb-revenues increased YoY. However, seen against the backdrop of jet fuel prices rising strongly YoY, margins for airlines continued to be fragile,” said WorldACD.
Photo: Mark Harkin
