Cargo Breaking News
The latest figures show that the air cargo market is beginning to cool after a brisk start to the year caused by the Red Sea crisis and pre-Lunar New Year (LNY) rush.
Figures from analyst WorldACD show that in week six, tonnages out of China declined by 2% compared with the previous week while imports were down 15%. This slowdown follows a “recent surge” in cargo volumes out of China as shippers “rushed to get goods shipped before the LNY holiday”. And WorldACD expects both inbound and outbound tonnages to fall further this week.
Looking at the last two weeks, volumes also showed signs of a slowdown with global demand dropping by 3% compared with the preceding two weeks.
“The 3% worldwide tonnage decline was largely driven by a 7% drop in tonnages from Asia Pacific origins – which, in turn, was mainly generated by a 17% fall in intra-Asia Pacific traffic, with the intra-Asia Pacific market apparently responding more quickly than the main long-haul markets to the arrival of the LNY holiday period,” WorldACD said. The analyst has also consistently pointed out over recent weeks that it is hard to gauge the underlying strength of the air cargo market during the first two months of the year due to the movement of the LNY holiday. Last year, the two-week break took place on January 22 while this year it started on February 10.
