Air Cargo

The global air cargo market saw demand grow 3.2 percent in April from a year earlier, but traffic was down from previous months due to a further slowdown in emerging markets, led by China, according to the International Air Transport Association.

Robert Song, Cargolux’s senior vice president and head of Asia Pacific, has been ousted just weeks after brokering a deal that saw Henan Civil Aviation & Investment Co (HNCA) acquiring 35 percent of the Luxembourg freighter operator.

The revenue from China’s fast-growing e-commerce business is masking a decline in the price per parcel that is expected to spur consolidation.

U.S. shippers haven’t been this optimistic about volume growth in the coming 12 months since The Hurt Locker won the Academy Award for Best Picture and an Icelandic volcano disrupted flights to and from Europe.

It occupies only 300 square feet in the world’s biggest international airport, but American Airlines Cargo’s first European temperature-controlled facility, which opened in London Heathrow last week, underscores the rise of health care as a key driver of global transport demand.

Profits in international forwarding are becoming increasingly squeezed as competitors drop prices to gain volumes and as underlying rates remain weak due to overcapacity and slowing growth in both ocean and air markets.

A trend in shipping from air to ocean that has cost the air cargo industry 2 percentage points of average annual growth since 2000 has now resulted in a meaningful expansion of the ocean reefer market, but only a miniscule increase in total container volumes.

Excess capacity and competition will keep pressure on pricing for air cargo carriers despite stronger growth.

Lufthansa Cargo said it will expand its “lucrative “express products business in 2014 as first quarter profit declined 25 percent year-on-year in a stalling global air freight market.

The global air cargo market has stalled but could start to grow again in the coming months due to rising export orders in the U.S. and Europe, according to the International Air Transport Association. But the stalled market is increasing the pressure on air cargo to deliver a stronger value proposition.

Japan’s leading air carriers saw their profits drop in fiscal year 2013, which ended on March 31, despite rising cargo revenue, as fuel costs surged thanks to a weakening of the yen.

Cargolux swung to an $8.4 million net profit in 2013 from a $35.1 million loss a year earlier as freight volume hit an all-time high, but the all-cargo carrier cautioned market conditions are unlikely to improve this year.

TNT Express posted lower revenue and operating income in the first quarter on a mix of adverse currency movements, the sale of its domestic Chinese business and the pruning of unprofitable contracts.

Cargolux said its shareholders approved a $175 million increase in its share capital to strengthen the Luxembourg-based all-cargo carrier’s finances and help fund the expansion of its freighter fleet and route network.

Express delivery in China resulted in 2.6 billion deliveries in the first quarter, up 51.9 percent year-on-year, Xinhua reported.

Japan’s containerized cargo trade will remain almost unchanged in fiscal 2014, which started on April 1, from the previous fiscal year, a Tokyo-based research firm predicted in a new report.

Air cargo’s positive start to the year has buoyed spirits in an industry anxious to find profitability amid weak yields and an excess of capacity.

Sharply higher shipments to China and India helped Etihad Airways boost its freight traffic in the first quarter by 26 percent to an all-time high.

Etihad Airways is on the verge of buying a 49 percent stake in Italy’s financially troubled national airline Alitalia in a move that would increase the Abu Dhabi-based carrier’s access to Europe’s second largest air freight market.

Lufthansa Cargo carried 2.6 percent less freight in March compared with a year ago, but it said the global market shows some signs of recovery as it posted higher revenue and an improved load factor.

As more shippers shift freight from express to deferred services or even to ocean vessels to better manage inventory and cut logistics costs, it’s natural to come to the conclusion that the air cargo industry is in a tailspin. Industry leaders, including FedEx founder and CEO Frederick W. Smith, describe a price-service flashpoint that favors slower means of transport and warn of growing protectionism. The rise of near-shoring and near-sourcing shortens supply chains, reducing the need for long-distance air transport.

DHL Global Forwarding, named on April 1 by Singapore’s competition watchdog as one of 11 forwarders involved in 2002 to 2007 price-fixing of Japan to Singapore shipments, said the economic effects of its activities were “minimal.”

Global air freight traffic grew 2.9 percent in February from a year ago, extending and strengthening the recovery that began in the second half of 2013, the International Air Transport Association reported.

Forget about steady growth in the air cargo markets. That was the blunt advice given by Denis Ilin, executive president of AirBridgeCargo Airlines, at an air cargo conference in Hong Kong today. In the best-case scenario, growth is going to be flat.

Transportation writer Greg Knowler joined the JOC today as senior editor for Asia.

Lufthansa Cargo’s services face severe disruption beginning tomorrow as pilots across the German airline stage a three-day strike.

The global air cargo business has been losing market share to ocean freight over the past 13 years as shippers seek less costly transport solutions in ocean freight.

Lufthansa Cargo’s earnings slumped 27 percent in 2013, but it was one of the few airlines that turned a profit in a subdued global air freight market.

With more shippers choosing to defer shipment to delayed air services, ground and even ocean transport, the air cargo industry needs to respond boldly...

Global air cargo surged 4.5 percent in January from a year earlier, driven by solid growth across all regions, but rising protectionism could clip growth, the International Air Transport Association said.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Ocean shipping lines will grab even more freight from airplane cargo bellies, as international shippers shift freight toward lower cost transportation options, according to Frederick W. Smith, chairman, president and CEO of $45 billion transport operator FedEx.

The latest figures from Asia’s airlines confirm that air cargo demand got off to a solid start in 2014.

Kuehne+Nagel’s operating earnings soared 20 percent in 2013 driven by market-beating growth in air freight volumes, almost doubled contract logistics profit and increased market share on the transpacific and transatlantic container trades.

International Airlines Group posted a double-digit decline in fourth quarter and full-year cargo revenue as soft demand and lower yields widened the gap with the Anglo-Spanish carrier’s reviving passenger operations.

On a recent day in mid-December, two 747 freighters flew into MidAmerica St. Louis Airport loaded with 250,000 pounds of Chilean blueberries. Just days later, another 160,000 pounds of the fruit landed at the airport.

Air freight operators have almost completed their shift of capacity back into China following the Lunar New Year celebrations.

Asia’s leading air freight hubs have gotten off to an encouraging start to the year, posting healthy growth rates across the board in January.

The pilots of the UPS cargo plane that crashed on Aug. 14, 2013, had complained about the company’s tiring work schedules at the start of the fatal flight before making landing errors...