WorldACD reported that cargo volumes in May increased by 11% after the extreme Covid-19 impact on air cargo volumes in April and although this small recovery does not promise a full rebound any time soon, it noted that in a number of markets "some guarded optimism may be justified."

The air cargo market data provider said chargeable weight carried by air, decreased by 29% compared with May 2019 and as the final year-on-year figure for April showed a 34% drop, the conclusion may be that May showed a slight improvement.

"In terms of yields/rates, we had witnessed a completely uncommon 63% month-on-month increase in April, when a good part of cargo capacity suddenly ‘disappeared’ as passenger aircraft stopped being operated," WorldACD said.

The increase in May was 5%, WorldACD said and worldwide yields/rates went up, from US$3.74 to US$3.95, in spite of additional capacity coming to the market by an increasing number of passenger aircraft being (partly) converted into freighters.

Regional performance

WorldACD said volume from the Middle East & South Asia (MESA) suffered the most in April dropping 70% from a year ago, but came back strongest in May, increasing by 45%.

The other origin regions showed a month on month increase varying from 4% for North America to 14% Central & South America. The origin of Europe and North America dropped 10% and Asia Pacific & MESA increased by 12%.

Africa showed the largest increase in USD-yields/rates of 13% from April.

"The market from China-East to Germany benefited most from the recent, very drastic market changes: although it slightly decreased in volume month-on-month," WorldACD said. It said the year-on-year increase for the segment topped 60% both in April and in May.

Meanwhile, performance from January to May was also up 24%.

Other top markets that performed much better than average in the year-to-date, include Hong Kong – USA Pacific (+16%) and China East-USA Midwest (+29%). The top markets that suffered most so far this year, were Kenya-Netherlands (-28%) and Germany-China East (-24%).

Decline in pharma, temp-control goods

"In the different product categories, the most unexpected development was a 1% year-on-year decrease in pharmaceuticals & temperature-controlled goods, the first such decrease for this category in 2020," WorldACD said.

It noted that the larger perishable categories outperformed the market as a whole month-on-month include Fruits & Vegetables (+16%) and Fish & Seafood (+26%).

"Looking at what happened within the month of May, the most striking features were the continuous weekly drop of worldwide USD-yields/rates: from US$4.29 in the first days to an average of US$3.52 for the last week and the daily pattern recovering from the steady drops shown in April," it added.

WorldACD said the much-reported increase in passenger aircraft being transformed into ‘quasi-freighters’ was clearly visible in the strong load factor jump in passenger aircraft.

"Within the month of May, we also noted a drop in the market share of the freighter companies between the first full week of May and the last one, another sign that the conversions started to have some impact," it added.