After a dismal start to the year, July proved to be a less bad month with a year-on-year fall of only 4.2%, according to WorldACD.
The fall in July compared to June being down 8.9%, but WorldACD says that looking at the figures closely, the two months were quite similar.
June had five Sundays compared to four in 2018, with the opposite being true in July, and Whitsunday moved from May in 2018 to June in 2019.
Special products continued to outperform general cargo, with the former up 3.5% and the latter down 7.4%.
WorldACD reports that though the worst effects of the US trade wars still has to reach air cargo, the global sentiment is not doing the industry any good.
It quotes a New York Times article saying: “A stark choice faces [President] Trump in the trade war with China. Trump can try to sever the deeply intertwined American commercial relationship with China, or he can prod economic growth to assuage the fears of investors around the planet. But he cannot do both at the same time”.
Saying that now consumer goods are being targeted by tariff increases, August’s air cargo figures could take a large dive.
Asia Pacific and Europe have been the biggest losers so far this year, with outgoing revenue down 10.9% and 14.8% respectively, and 11.4% and 10.8% respectively for incoming revenue.
The USA has done less badly, with outgoing air cargo revenue down 6% in US dollars and 8.5% incoming.
The demise of Jet Airways has left a large gap in markets, with WorldACD highlighting the India-Netherlands tradelane where average rates increased by 7.5%.
