Worldwide chargeable weight declined -1% in week 19 (May 5-11) compared to the previous week, marking a string of contractions since the first week of April that was only interrupted by stable volumes in week 17.

 

The comparison of the last two weeks with the previous two weeks (2Wo2W) shows a worldwide tonnage decline of -3%, with Europe and North America being the only origin regions to see traffic growth of +2% and +3% respectively, partly related to post-Easter recovery for those origins.

 

The end of US 'de minimis' exemption of China origin imports worth less than $800 effective May 2 reinforced the global downward trend in airfreight demand, showing a marked weakening of tonnage moving from China to the US.

 

As a result of weakening demand, the global average rate retreated for a fourth week in a row, dropping from $2.46 in week 15 to $2.34, a -2% decline from week 18. On a 2Wo2W comparison the global average rate was down also -2%, based on over 500,000 weekly transactions covered by WorldACD’s data. 

 

This was -3% lower than in week 19 of 2024, showing an increasing gap in year-on-year comparisons. North America and Europe, up +3% and 1% week on week respectively, were the only origin regions to show increases in pricing.-TradeArabia News Service