Global air cargo tonnages in June show a continuation of the flat trend seen since the beginning of the month, according to the latest weekly figures from WorldACD Market Data, while average rates remain on a slightly sliding trend.

The air cargo market data provider said figures for week 25 (June 19 to 25) show a slight decrease in tonnages (-2%) and average worldwide air cargo prices, week on week (WoW), continuing the pattern seen since the beginning of June.

This is based on the more than 400,000 weekly transactions covered by WorldACD's data.

In its latest analysis, WorldACD said comparing weeks 24 and 25 with the preceding two weeks (2Wo2W), overall tonnages are stable versus their combined total in weeks 22 and 23, with capacity up +1% and average worldwide rates slightly falling (-1%).

At a regional level, all origin regions showed a relatively stable picture in tonnages on a 2Wo2W basis, except ex-Central & South America (-5%).

It added that region to region, the most-notable decreases can be observed in tonnages ex-Central & South America to Europe (-9%) and ex-Africa to Europe (-7%), while flows ex-North America to Asia Pacific jumped by +5%.

On the pricing side, it added that average rates continue their decline, on a 2Wo2W basis, most notably on flows ex-Middle East & South Asia to Asia Pacific (-17%), ex-North America to Asia Pacific (-7%) and ex-Europe to North America (-5%) – despite rises in tonnages on all three of these segments.

Air cargo volumes, rates down year-on-year

Comparing the overall global market with this time last year, chargeable weight in weeks 24 and 25 were down -6% compared with the equivalent period last year, mainly driven by decreases in tonnages ex-North America (-17%), ex-Europe (-9%) and ex-Asia (-3%).

Meanwhile, WorldACD said increases were recorded ex-Africa (+5%), ex-Central & South America (+3%) and ex-Middle East & South Asia (+3%).

Overall capacity has increased by +11% compared with last year, with capacity ex-Asia Pacific up by a noteworthy +32% and other double-digit YoY percentage increases from the Middle East and South Asia (+16%) and Africa (+11%), while a strong reduction was recorded from Central & South America (-10%).

Worldwide average rates are currently -38% below their levels this time last year, at an average of US$2.37 per kilo in week 25, although they remain significantly above pre-Covid levels (+34% compared to June 2019), the WorldACD weekly report said.