Fifteen years of Cargolux results reveal air cargo’s uneven new era
Here at The Loadstar, we’ve been watching Cargolux for well over a decade. It has had its ups and downs – from financial stress ...
By Alex Lennane
Cathay Cargo’s 2024 results were boosted by ecommerce and electronics, giving it a 11% hike in volumes.
As Cathay Pacific announced its financial results, it said it had seen a second consecutive year of solid financial performance, with the second half in particular driven by “elevated cargo demand, higher passenger volumes, lower fuel prices and higher cost efficiencies compared with the previous year”.
It did not break out the profit (or loss) achieved in cargo, simply revealing that cargo revenue rose 8.3%, to HK$24bn ($3bn).
More passenger flights lhad ed to a capacity increase of 8.6% in available freight tonne km, while traffic, in revenue freight tonne km, went up 5%. Volumes increased nearly 11%, to 1.5m tonnes, load factors fell slightly, while yields went up 2.9%, to HK$2.82.
“In 2024, demand remained strong, buoyed by significant support from ecommerce and traditional commodities, particularly electronics,” noted Cathay Cargo. “The overall growth in tonnage in Hong Kong and the wider Greater Bay Area surpassed our capacity growth compared with last year.
“We observed impressive tonnage growth from Hong Kong to Europe, the South-west Pacific, North-east Asia, and South-east Asia, benefiting from belly capacity provided by the Cathay group’s increased passenger flights.”
It added that its logistics park in Dongguan had seen “substantial growth” in exports, while imports increased more slowly.
“We ramped up freighter frequency on our transpacific routes from late August to cater for the growing demand during the air cargo peak season. As at 31st December, we were operating freighters serving 12 destinations in the Americas.”
It said demand from Europe had surged, with general cargo driving the tonnage, as well as pharma and perishables.
“Overall tonnage from North Asia grew year on year, partly driven by busy trade flows within the region. We saw improvement in cargo traffic from North Asia to North America where hi-tech and auto-parts were among the key commodities. Machinery movements within Japan, Korea, and the Taiwan region were busy and drove the growth of our Cathay Expert solution from North Asia.”
And ecommerce, of course, from the Chinese mainland “remained strong, supplemented with ecommerce trade between South Korea and the Taiwan region.”
Exports from South-east Asia were “solid”, with general cargo the dominant commodity, and hi-tech electronics the most common.
It said: “For cargo, we remain confident in the strength of our business, bolstered by the opportunities provided by the Three-Runway System, and we are cautiously monitoring the potential impact on air cargo in light of the current geopolitical situation.”
Cathay Pacific announced attributable profit of HK$9.8bn ($1.27bn), slightly up on a year earlier, off revenues 10.5% higher, at HK$104.37bn ($13.43bn).
You can read the full report here
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