WorldACD reports September 2017 was the thirteenth consecutive month of YoY cargo volume growth above five per cent.

At 8.8 per cent, it also was the first month in some time when growth remained below 10 per cent

This was for a couple of reasons: (1) the very strong September-2016 performance, (ii) the September calendar had less of the traditionally strong cargo days this year than a year ago, and (iii) the hurricane influence on air cargo, particularly in the Atlantic South of the USA and the Caribbean.

 

Yet, with a very high yield increase of 12 per cent YoY in USD-terms (5.4 per cent in EUR-terms), September 2017 was another outstanding month for air cargo carriers: Revenues improved YoY by 21.8 per cent in USD, and by 14.7 per cent in EUR, even though a 13 per cent fuel price increase YoY may dampen enthusiasm about the revenue growth.

 

The only region maintaining a YoY double digit volume growth in September was Asia Pacific: +12.3 per cent for outbound and +11.3 per cent for inbound business. The origin North America stayed well below the average growth (+5.6 per cent YoY, +1.2 per cent YoY for the Atlantic South region), while Africa's growth figures were negative, mainly due to a serious drop in volume from Egypt. The interregional markets growing strongest all involved the Middle East & South Asia (MESA): Asia Pacific > MESA +14 per cent, Europe > MESA +13.3 per cent, North America > MESA 13.9 per cent and MESA North America + 20.6 per cent.

 

 

Through the first three quarters of the year, Asia Pacific (+14.2 per cent) and Europe (+12.6 per cent) remain the best performing areas in volume growth, consolidating their top positions in the world's air cargo business. Asia Pacific can add the distinction that it is also the only area with double digit yield growth YoY for each month in the period Jan-Sep. Where did most of the growing volumes go to? Four destinations account for 30 per cent of the growth in 2017: China East, USA Midwest, Germany and Japan.

 

 

Given a growing interest, particularly among larger forwarders, in the data gathered by WorldACD, this is a good moment to look how the world's Top-20 forwarders are doing, 11 of them coming from Europe, five from Asia and four from North America. In the year until now, the Top-20 did better

YoYthan the group of all other forwarders (+11.2 per cent vs +10.3 per cent), raising their combined worldwide share to almost 43 per cent. Of the Top-20, the Asians and North-American outgrew the market (+13 and + 12 per cent respectively), while the Europeans kept pace with the overall market growth (+10.8 per cent).

 

The North Americans did very well in the region Asia Pacific (+19.3 per cent) as well as in the much smaller Africa market (+21.3 per cent), but lost ground on their home turf (+8.6 per cent vs. +13.9 per cent for the Europeans, and +13.3 per cent for the Asians).

 

 

In Europe, the 11 Europeans in the Top-20 fared much better than the non-European members of the Top-20 (+13 per cent vs. +9.3 per cent).  In the Asia Pacific area, both the Asian members of the Top-20 and the group of 'other forwarders' realised an impressive growth of over 15 per cent.