Global air cargo volumes dip in November

Global air cargo volumes dropped 0.9% year-on-year (YoY) during November, marking the first monthly decline since June 2013, a report said.

Going by the bare worldwide monthly figures, November 2015 was not a good month for air cargo. For the first time in 2.5 years, monthly volume dropped YoY (-0.9%).

Although US dollar-yields improved for the third month in a row, the 1% increase was smaller than the usual yield improvement from October to November, added the report from WorldACD Market Data.

However, the month-on-month (MoM) yield increase was in line with last year’s when taking into account the major exchange rate effects.

Volumes during September-November showed a growth of 1%, well below the YoY increase of 2.6%.

Exports from China and Hong Kong by air to Europe had been below previous year’s volumes for a good part of 2015, but over the past months this negative pattern was reversed.

The destination North America had already performed well since the beginning of 2015 and continued that trend towards the year’s end. And the yield developments (in USD) were even more encouraging. Contrary to recent figures from other sources, we observe rather positive yield patterns for the origin Asia Pacific: between August and November, yields rose by 17% to Europe, and by 10% to North America.

However, intra – Asia Pacific air cargo suffered. YoY volumes were down by 4% in November, and by 1.3% for the last three months.  And coupled with that, the average USD-yield in the area fell by 4% since August 2015.

How did other areas fare since August? Volumes from Africa, Europe and the Middle East & South Asia (MESA) grew more than average (by 4, 4 and 2% respectively), whilst volumes from the Americas contracted compared to 2014. But in Central & South America, compensation was found in strongly growing yields between August and November (+13%).

Perishables and pharmaceuticals remain positive, also over the past three months, with YoY volume growth of 5% respectively 10.5%. Whilst perishables shared in the small yield upswing since last August, pharmaceuticals did not: their rapid growth is accompanied by a USD-yield drop of 5% since September. When measuring in EUR however, the main currency for pharma, the picture is much more positive.

Carriers from North America contracted by 3% YoY (volume-wise) on average over the past three months. Their colleagues from Asia Pacific and Europe hardly grew. Carrier groups from Africa and MESA noted growth of 2% respectively 7%.