March 2018 saw worldwide air cargo volumes increase by just 0.9% y-o-y. With a very strong market in January and a more modest growth in February, this brings Q1 2018 volumes at a growth of 4.8% YoY according to a latest report from WorldACD
In terms of air cargo exports, the Southern hemisphere saw the best and worst performers: Central & South America grew by 12%, whilst Africa lost 3.3%.
In incoming volumes, the European market grew by 7%, whilst the Middle East & South Asia saw a very modest growth of 0.6%.
Of the top-30 origins in the world, the best performers in Q1 - chalking up double-digit growth figures - were Turkey (+20.6%), Japan (+17.8% YoY) and Ecuador (+12.2%).
Among the world's largest "country pairs", the markets from Japan to China East (+24% YoY), from Germany to India (+19.2%) and from Chile to USA South Atlantic (+17.6%) stood out for the right reasons; Hong Kong to Germany (-9.9%) and Japan to Taiwan (-6.8%) topped a list of large country pairs losing some of their lustre.
Worldwide yields in terms of price/kg, increased 18.6% when measured in USD, but only 2.7% when expressing it in EUR due to fluctuating exchange rates and the weakness of the dollar in the first quarter of 2018.
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