Global air cargo tonnages & rates stabilise in Oct: WorldACD

According to the latest weekly figures from WorldACD Market Data, global air cargo tonnages and rates appear to have stabilised after recovering from China’s National Day Golden Week in early October. There are no clear signs yet of any significant fourth quarter (Q4) peak season despite anecdotal reports from some freight forwarders of a slight seasonal tightening of the market, the update added. Preliminary figures for week 42 (October 16-22) show a one percent increase in tonnage and in global average rates compared with the previous week, based on the more than 400,000 weekly transactions covered by WorldACD’s data. “That follows a four percent week-on-week (WoW) increase the previous week following a six percent drop during the first full week of October, corresponding with China’s Golden Week holiday break.” Comparing weeks 41 and 42 this year with the preceding two weeks (2Wo2W), overall tonnages, worldwide rates and also capacity increased by one percent versus their combined total in weeks 39 and 40, the update added. The biggest percentage increases in tonnages were found on flows to Asia Pacific from Europe (11 percent) and Middle East & South Asia (eight percent). Declines in tonnages (2Wo2W) were recorded most strongly on flows outbound from Europe to, respectively, Africa (eight percent), Central & South America (eight percent) and Middle East & South Asia (seven percent).