For the first time in two-and-a-half years, November 2015 registered a monthly air cargo volume drop year-on-year, but it’s not a totally lost cause for the industry, according to WorldACD.
Cargo fell 0.9% in November, the first time since June 2013, and U.S. dollar yields, while positive for the third month in a row, only rose 1%, smaller than the usual from October to November. Moreover, November was weaker than October for the first time since 2011.
But the airline cargo data provider said there were “glimmers of hope,” as exports by China and Hong Kong to Europe were on the rise and those to North America were doing well, so that the two Asian economic powerhouses accounted for almost 30% of worldwide revenues.
“Their exports 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,” it said.
U.S. dollar yield developments were even more encouraging, it added, noting the “rather positive yield patterns for the origin Asia Pacific.” Between August and November, yields for the region rose by 17% to Europe and by 10% to North America.
However, intra-Asia Pacific air cargo suffered. Year-on-year volumes were down by 4% in November, and by 1.3% for the last three months. Average U.S. dollar yield in the area fell, too, declining by 4% since August 2015.
In regional performance, volumes from Africa, Europe, and the Middle East & South Asia (MESA) grew more than average (by 4%, 4%, and 2% respectively), while volumes from the Americas contracted compared to 2014. Central & South America, meanwhile, registered “strongly growing yields between August and November” of 13%.
Perishables and pharmaceuticals remained positive, also over the past three months, with year-on-year volume growth of 5% and 10.5%, respectively.
Volumes of carriers from North America contracted by 3% year-on-year on average over the past three months. Cargo from counterparts in Asia-Pacific and Europe hardly grew. Carrier groups from Africa and MESA noted growth of 2% and 7%, respectively.
HKIA books cargo decline
Meanwhile, Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) said cargo throughput in November dropped by 3.1% to 407,000 tonnes compared to the same month last year.
The decline in cargo was mainly due to a 6% year-on-year drop in transshipments and 4% drop in imports compared to the same month last year. Among the key trading regions, traffic to and from China and Southeast Asia registered the most significant drop in the month.
Since the beginning of 2015, HKIA has recorded flat cargo traffic at 4 million tonnes. On a rolling 12-month basis, it has handled 4.38 million tonnes of cargo, making a year-on-year increase of 0.3%.
Photo: Jozef Toth
