AIR cargo volumes in March declined compared with a year earlier as the market was hit by the war in Ukraine, sanctions and lockdowns in China, London's air Cargo News.
The latest figures from CLIVE Data Services, which is part of the Xeneta rate benchmarking platform, show that demand for March was 4.5 per cent down compared with a year earlier - and 6.5 per cent down on pre-Covid 2019 levels - marking a 'sudden interruption to the recovery trend of recent months after the peak Covid disruption of the past two years'.
Capacity in March was down three per cent compared with last year and 14 per cent against 2019 levels.
As a result, dynamic load factors - accounting for both weight and volume - stood at 66 per cent, which is the same level as recorded in 2019 and six percentage points lower than 2021 after record levels were reached that year.
Despite aircraft being less full in March than they were a year ago, rates have increased 27 per cent year on year and are up 141 per cent compared with two years ago.
Niall van de Wouw, chief air freight officer at Xeneta, said this was down to disruption on the ground.
'There are also still many issues with capacity on the ground. One bottleneck got replaced with another one,' said Mr van de Wouw.
'Load factors are lower this year than they were last year, but prices are higher. The latest disruption in Shanghai is not unexpected but it adds to the worldwide issue of staff absence because of high Covid cases.
'Pilots, cargo handling workers, truck drivers etc, unlike many others, cannot work from home. It's hardly surprising then to hear the International Monetary Fund (IMF) blaming soaring shipping costs for driving up inflation rates.
'Right now, the air freight and ocean freight markets are in general a mess, with shippers and consumers having to pay the price. In the first two months of 2022, we were talking of growing resilience in the airfreight market and a recovery to pre-Covid levels. March data shows how quickly this can change.'
SeaNews Turkey
The latest figures from CLIVE Data Services, which is part of the Xeneta rate benchmarking platform, show that demand for March was 4.5 per cent down compared with a year earlier - and 6.5 per cent down on pre-Covid 2019 levels - marking a 'sudden interruption to the recovery trend of recent months after the peak Covid disruption of the past two years'.
Capacity in March was down three per cent compared with last year and 14 per cent against 2019 levels.
As a result, dynamic load factors - accounting for both weight and volume - stood at 66 per cent, which is the same level as recorded in 2019 and six percentage points lower than 2021 after record levels were reached that year.
Despite aircraft being less full in March than they were a year ago, rates have increased 27 per cent year on year and are up 141 per cent compared with two years ago.
Niall van de Wouw, chief air freight officer at Xeneta, said this was down to disruption on the ground.
'There are also still many issues with capacity on the ground. One bottleneck got replaced with another one,' said Mr van de Wouw.
'Load factors are lower this year than they were last year, but prices are higher. The latest disruption in Shanghai is not unexpected but it adds to the worldwide issue of staff absence because of high Covid cases.
'Pilots, cargo handling workers, truck drivers etc, unlike many others, cannot work from home. It's hardly surprising then to hear the International Monetary Fund (IMF) blaming soaring shipping costs for driving up inflation rates.
'Right now, the air freight and ocean freight markets are in general a mess, with shippers and consumers having to pay the price. In the first two months of 2022, we were talking of growing resilience in the airfreight market and a recovery to pre-Covid levels. March data shows how quickly this can change.'
SeaNews Turkey