Preliminary air cargo figures for April indicate that worldwide tonnages for the month were up by +6%, year on year (YoY), driven by a +10% YoY increase from Asia Pacific origins, as US importers adjust to big changes in China-US trade rules.
According to the latest figures from WorldACD market data, chargeable weight in April was up, YoY, from all of the main world origin regions – with the exception of Middle East & South Asia (MESA), where tonnages were flat. Alongside +10% YoY growth from Asia Pacific origins, there were increases of +7% from Central & South America (CSA), +5% from North America, +3% from Africa, and +2% from Europe.
The YoY weight increase of +6% in April follows an increase of +4% in March, and +2% increase for Q1 2025. This makes for a tonnage increase in the first four months of 2025 of +3% compared with the same period in 2024. Compared with March, tonnages in April were down from all the main regions except CSA, which achieved a +16% month-on-month (MoM) rise.
Meanwhile, there were MoM declines from Europe (-10%), MESA (-12%), North America (-7%), and Asia Pacific (-5%).
Overall worldwide rates in April of $2.43 per kilo, based upon a full-market average of spot rates and contract rates, were stable compared with the previous month and the previous year. Significant YoY variations included a +7% increase from Africa origins and a -14% drop from MESA, from where rates last year were inflated because of the Red Sea shipping disruptions.
Amid the current uncertainty of global markets, and the lead-up to the end of ‘de minimis’ exemptions from May 2 for US imports from China, worldwide tonnages in the final full week of April (week 17, 21 to 27 April) held firm, buoyed by a +19% WoW increase from CSA due to the annual surge in Mother’s Day flower shipments. Other highlights included a +4% WoW (and YoY) increase in MESA origin shipments, and a +3% WoW increase from Asia Pacific, taking tonnages from that key region +6% higher than in April 2024. But average rates from Asia Pacific in week 17 edged downwards by a further -1%, WoW, taking them slightly below (-1%) their level this time last year, based on the more than 500,000 weekly transactions covered by WorldACD’s data.
China to USA volatility
Spot rates from Asia Pacific saw a small further decline (-2%, WoW) in week 17 to $3.67 per kilo, but they remain up +3% on week 17 last year. After four consecutive weeks of WoW tonnage declines from China and Hong Kong to the USA, and from Asia-Pacific as a whole to the US, tonnages increased slightly in week 17 (+1% WoW for China and Hong Kong, and +3% WoW for Asia-Pacific). But compared with this time last year, tonnages from China and Hong Kong to the USA were -15% lower in week 17. - TradeArabia News Service