Air cargo tonnages from Asia Pacific rebounded strongly in the last full week of August (week ended August 25, 2024) after dipping sharply the previous week due to flight cancellations resulting from a typhoon in Northeast Asia, according to the latest update from WorldACD Market Data.
Tonnages from Europe have yet to bounce back from the mid-August ‘Assumption’ holiday, the update added.
“Worldwide air cargo tonnages in week 34 (August 19-25) rebounded by five percent compared with the previous week, mainly driven by a week-on-week (WoW) increase of +11 percent from Asia Pacific origins. That follows a seven percent drop in worldwide flown cargo the previous week, most of which was linked to the impact of Typhoon Ampil on air cargo to and from Japan – and to a lesser extent South Korea – and to the August 15 holiday in various European countries. The impact of this week’s further typhoon to affect Japan, Typhoon Shanshan, is expected to be visible in next week’s report (week 35).”
Analysis based on the more than 450,000 weekly transactions covered by WorldACD’s data indicates that 40 percent (or two percentage points) of the WoW global rebound in week 34 was driven by the post-typhoon recovery of tonnages from Japan origins (+91 percent, WoW). The other major contributors included strong increases from South Korea (+16 percent, WoW) and mainland China (seven percent, WoW).
Bangladesh rates climb furtherThe increases this year in spot rates are, in many cases, far higher, averaging more than +100 percent from many MESA origins – especially to Europe – and more than +50 percent from various Asia Pacific origins to key markets including North America and Europe, the update added. “Indeed, in week 34, spot rates from MESA as a whole to Europe were up, YoY, by +113 percent. That includes rates from Bangladesh to Europe of more than $5 per kilo ($5.02), a four percent increase compared with last week and a YoY increase of +161 percent. That’s the highest level so far this year for Bangladesh to Europe, although tonnages flown from Bangladesh have stabilised in the last four weeks following several weeks of severe disruptions caused by ongoing political unrest in the country.
“Spot rates from India to Europe have stabilised in the last three weeks at slightly above $3.30 per kilo, down somewhat from the peak of more than $4 per kilo in April, although they remain up by +145 percent compared with this time last year. Spot rates from Sri Lanka to Europe of $3.42 per kilo are more than double their level this time last year (+106 percent).”
Worldwide rates elevated but stableAverage worldwide rates – based on a full-market average of spot rates and contract rates – remained broadly stable at $2.51 per kilo, a rise of +46 percent compared with the pre-Covid equivalent period of August 2019.
“Compared with last year, average prices are up +12 percent, thanks to YoY increases of +59 percent from MESA and +22 percent from Asia Pacific. Meanwhile, increases in capacity on the head-haul legs from those two markets to accommodate the increases in demand have led to continuing drops in prices on the respective back-haul lanes with average rates from Europe down by -10 percent YoY and from North America origins down nine percent.”
