Holidays, market recovery to give airfreight rates year-end boost

0
405

Asiana_AirlinesAirfreight rates from Asia to North America and Europe are expected to rise through to the end of the year following four months of stable pricing, according to a recent Sea & Air Shipper Insight report by a shipping consultancy.

Drewry’s East-West Air Freight Price Index, a weighted average of airfreight rates across 21 East-West trades, rose 0.7 points in September to 103.7 points. The increase in pricing brought the index up to within just 0.1 points of April’s high and 3.8 points above last year’s level, indicative of the recovery in airfreight over the past 12 months.

The index reveals that rates did not rise as much as expected, considering the anticipated boost of new consumer electronics products coming into the market.

“Given the anticipated tailwinds from new product launches through September, the sluggish expansion in the index suggests some softening in underlying demand relative to capacity,” said Simon Heaney, senior manager of supply chain research at Drewry. “However, we expect pricing to rise on key origin Asian routes into North America and Europe as the trade ramps up for end of year peak season.”

“In the short term, Drewry expects capacity availability to tighten through peak season by comparison with recent years,” added Heaney. “However, as the trade moves into next year the outlook appears more uncertain with overall trade growth expected to slow.”

Healthy revenues for September

In related news, WorldACD Market Data said air cargo again showed a healthy year-on-year revenue increase in September, pushed up by vigorous trade in perishables and pharmaceuticals.

The main engines for September’s worldwide revenue growth of 6 percent were the origins Asia Pacific (7.7 percent) and North America (6.6 percent), according to the airfreight research service.

Volume increased by 6.6 percent worldwide, though yields dropped by 0.6 percent despite yield growth in Europe and the Middle East & South Asia.

Revenues from the transport of perishables and pharmaceuticals increased by 9 percent and 16 percent, respectively, year-on-year, enlarging the share of these products in worldwide revenues from 8.1 percent to 8.4 percent for perishables, and from 3.2 percent to 3.5 percent for pharmaceuticals.

Among the 30 largest country pairs, the star performers in September compared to the same period a year ago were Germany-South Africa, China East-U.S. Midwest, and Japan-U.S. Midwest.

“The overall September performance was pretty much in line with earlier months, so that the year-to-date figures were further solidified,” said WorldACD. Registering a more than 20 percent growth in revenues for the year so far for inbound and outbound together are Myanmar, Bahrain, Vietnam, Mauritius, Benin, Slovakia, and Morocco.

Photo: Raimund Stehmann