Air Cargo off to a bad start in 2016

Air cargo has got off to a bad start in 2016 with volumes growing by just 0.3 per cent year-on-year in January, according to WorldACD Market Data.

Europe bucked this particular trend, with the continent’s export air cargo traffic up by five per cent year-on-year and its import volumes up by 1.5 per cent. Asia Pacific struggled due to China suffering an unexpectedly deep export slump in January though the region’s business to Europe increased by 8.8 per cent and from the continent was up 10.6 per cent.

WorldACD says: “Coupled with the gloomy general economic forecasts and recent stock market movements, it sure looks as if 2016 is off to a pretty bad start in air cargo.”

The yield on global air cargo measured in US dollars also fell in January compared to the same month of 2015, down by 16 per cent. The decline in yield occurred despite the significant fall in jet fuel prices seen during the intervening 12 months. Only the Central and South American markets managed to maintain the same general yield.

However, the month-on-month fall of 6.6 per cent in yield between January 2016 and December 2015 was actually slightly less than is usual for that time of the year.