The International Air Transport Association (IATA) released data for global air cargo markets showing "significantly" slower growth in November last year, dragged by persisting supply chain disruptions both on air and sea.

IATA said global demand — measured in cargo tonne-kilometres (CTKs) — was up 3.7% compared to November 2019 (4.2% for international operations).

"This was significantly lower than the 8.2% growth seen in October 2021 (9.2% for international operations) and in previous months," IATA said.

"Supply chain disruptions and capacity constraints impacted demand, despite economic conditions remaining favorable for the sector," it added.

IATA noted that capacity for the period was 7.6% below November 2019 (-7.9% for international operations) which was "relatively unchanged" from October as capacity remains constrained with bottlenecks at key hubs.

"Economic conditions continue to support air cargo growth, however supply chain disruptions are slowing growth," IATA added, noting that this include labor shortages, partly due to employees being in quarantine, insufficient storage space at some airports and processing backlogs exacerbated by the year end rush created supply chain disruptions.

Several key airports, including New York's JFK, Los Angeles and Amsterdam Schiphol also reported congestion.

Meanwhile, it said retail sales in the US and China remain strong while global goods trade rose 4.6% in October (latest month of data), compared to pre-crisis levels, the best rate of growth since June.

"The inventory-to-sales ratio remains low. This is positive for air cargo as manufacturers turn to air cargo to rapidly meet demand," IATA said, adding that the recent surge in COVID-19 cases in many advanced economies has created strong demand for PPE shipments, which are usually carried by air.

Air cargo growth "halved"

"Air cargo growth was halved in November compared to October because of supply chain disruptions," said Willie Walsh, IATA's Director General.

"All economic indicators pointed towards continued strong demand, but the pressures of labor shortages and constraints across the logistics system unexpectedly resulted in lost growth opportunities."

He added that manufacturers, for example, were unable to get vital goods to where they were needed, including PPE.

"Governments must act quickly to relieve pressure on global supply chains before it permanently dents the shape of the economic recovery from COVID-19," the IATA chief noted, as he called on governments to ensure that air crew operations are not hindered by COVID-19 restrictions designed for air travelers as well as the implementation of the commitments governments made at the ICAO High Level Conference on COVID-19 to restore international connectivity, including for passenger travel.

Walsh said this will ramp-up vital cargo capacity with bellyspace.

Regional performance

IATA said last November, Asia-Pacific airlines saw their international air cargo volumes increase 5.2% compared to the same month in 2019 — only slightly below the previous month's 5.9% expansion.

North American carriers posted an 11.4% increase in international cargo volumes for the same month which was "significantly" below October's performance.

"Supply chain congestion at several key US cargo hubs has affected growth," IATA said.

European carriers, meanwhile, saw a 0.3% increase in international cargo volumes in November compared to the 2019 level, but this was also a "significant drop" in performance compared to October 2021.

IATA said European carriers have been affected by supply chain congestion and localized capacity constraints with capacity on the key Europe-Asia route was down 7.3% during the same period.

Middle Eastern carriers experienced a 3.4% increase in international cargo volumes, also a significant drop in performance compared to the previous month (9.7%) which due to a deterioration in traffic on several key routes such as Middle East-Asia, and Middle East-North America.

IATA noted that Latin American carriers reported a decline of 13.6% in international cargo volumes for the period which was "the weakest performance" of all regions and a significant deterioration from the previous month's performance.

Only African airlines saw international cargo volumes increase slightly by 0.8%, but also a "significant deterioration" from the previous month.