Worldwide air cargo has dropped further in the first week of 2024, according to WorldACD’s latest data. Although the figures in the first week of 2023 had remained stable, that period ran from January 2 to 8, whereas the 2024 slump can be somewhat attributed to New Year’s Day (January 1) being included in the figures.
From January 1 to 7 2024, global air cargo tonnages fell by 6% in comparison to the previous week. The main lanes that contributed to the decline were ex-Asia Pacific to, respectively, North America and Middle East & South Asia (both -17%), and intra-Asia Pacific (-13%). Average worldwide rates dropped by around 2% in the first week of 2024 after falling by around 7% in the second half of December.
Expanding the comparison period to two weeks, total combined tonnages for week 52 of 2023 and week 1 this year were down by 28% compared with the preceding two weeks, and average rates fell by 5%, with capacity down 8%.
While volumes went down significantly across all regions, on a 2Wo2W basis, there were particularly big tonnage declines ex-Europe (-42%) and North America (-35%), followed by ex-Central & South America (-29%), ex-Asia Pacific (-22%) and ex-Africa (-18%), and a more-modest fall ex-Middle East & South Asia (-6%).
On the pricing side, the 5% global average decline in the last two weeks was mainly driven by falling rates on the big lanes ex-Asia Pacific to North America (-16%) and Europe (-14%). Other markets recorded single-digit average percentage declines, with the exception of Central & South America to Europe (+6%), intra-Asia Pacific (+2%), Africa to Europe (+1%) and Middle East & South Asia to Asia Pacific (+1%), on a 2Wo2W basis.