A few bright spots in a slow air cargo market

© Khunaspix

It‘s not exactly good news – but it could be worse. WorldACD has reported air cargo results for the first quarter. With a little adjustment, they are not as bad as some might think. If you take out of the comparison the boost from last year‘s west coast port strikes, volumes actually increased 1.4% year-on-year, while while yields fell less horribly, down 13.6%. Without the Asia to North America adjustment, volumes fell 1.3% and yields sank 17%. And China wasn’t as bad as you might think. The first quarter saw year-on-year volumes rise 6% – or 18% in some European markets. But revenues between China and Western Europe dropped by 12% YoY, due to a yield decrease of over 25%. Perishables and pharma continued to do well.