Based on the latest weekly data from WorldACD Market Data, global air cargo tonnages marginally recovered in the last full week of May after falling the week before, while rates slightly improved. While rates have stayed largely consistent throughout the month of May, the chargeable weight has experienced significant swings in the first half of the month because of the public holidays on May 1. Preliminary figures on worldwide tonnages for the entire month of May show a decline of 6% from the prior year, which is better than the first quarter’s 11 percent and April’s 10 percent annual declines previously reported.
Based on the more than 400,000 weekly transactions covered by the data from WorldACD, the figures for week 21 (May 22 to May 28) show a rise of 2% in tonnages and 1% in average worldwide air cargo pricing, week over week.
The aggregate tonnages grew by 2% compared to their combined total in weeks 18 and 19 (2Wo2W), with only minor adjustments in capacity (+1%) and average worldwide rates (-1%).
With the exception of a four per cent drop ex-North America and a (-14%) correction ex-Central and South America following the surge in flower exports in late April and early May related to Mother’s Day, most origin regions showed an upward trend in tonnages on a 2Wo2W basis after the drop at the start of May.
There have been considerable gains in outbound trade from the Asia Pacific region to the Middle East and South Asia (+16%), Europe (+14%), Africa (+14%), and Asia Pacific (+8%). On the flows from North America to Europe (-9%) and from Central and South America to North America (-21%), there have been notable decreases in aviation freight tonnage.
On a 2Wo2W basis, average prices decreased in all of the major origin regions, with rates outgoing to North America from Central and South America showing the largest change (-8%), followed by rates outbound to Asia Pacific from the Middle East and South Asia, which fell by 5%.
