Airfreight volumes at the global level declined for airports by 4.1% in February 2016 as compared to the previous year, with Asia-Pacific and North America reflecting the most notable downturn.
According to data from Airports Council International (ACI), international freight experienced a greater decline than domestic freight, down 5.5% and 0.8%, respectively.
The organization traced much of the decline to the timing of the Chinese New Year (CNY), which fell on February 8 this year against February 19 in 2015, as the difference of 11 days made an impact on global volumes of imports and exports.
As a result, Hong Kong, Shanghai-Pudong in China, Seoul-Incheon in South Korea, Tokyo-Narita in Japan, and Taipei in Taiwan reported traffic losses of 14.9%, 13.1%, 9.4%, 16%, and 18.2% respectively.
However, some major freight hubs remained in positive territory, including Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (2.9% expansion), Paris-Charles de Gaulle in France (9.9%), Doha in Qatar (20.8%), and London-Heathrow in England (2.7%).
Based on the global sample of airports, 16 of the top 20 airports in freight volume all experienced year-over-year declines in February, including Memphis and Louisville, the two major freight hubs in the U.S.; Miami in the U.S.; Frankfurt in Germany; Singapore; Los Angeles in the U.S.; and others.
The picture is thus two-sided: As all major airfreight markets in East Asia experienced declines in traffic volumes, the major airfreight markets in Europe remained flat or grew only marginally, said ACI.
At the regional level, Asia-Pacific and North America are the only regions with significant and comparable rates in airfreight declines (-8.1% and -7.3%), testifying to the pattern of international trade and economic interdependence of the two regions. At the same time, the short-term distortionary boost to freight volumes a year ago during the West Coast Sea port crisis has exacerbated the decline in February.
Meanwhile, year-to-date, total airfreight declined 1.3% in February 2016 from the same period last year, with international freight contracting 2.3% and domestic freight tallying a slight growth of 0.9%.
On a 12-month rolling year basis, total freight inched up 1%, as international volumes went up a slight 0.7% and domestic cargo accelerated 1.6%.
Photo: B747131
