More middling growth in August, WorldACD

Air cargo volumes rose 2.3 percent year-over-year (y-o-y) measured in billable weight, prompting WorldACD to note that, “the (Northern Hemisphere) summer has been almost as mild to the industry as the September weather in Europe.” August’s numbers were an improvement over the 1.8 percent growth registered in July, but lagged June’s 3 percent increase.

The Netherlands based research firm also noted that worldwide USD-yields were 0.5 percent higher in August than in July.

Africa and Central and South America continued to post disappointing overall volume growth, while their yields held close to last year’s levels. WorldACD noted that the same trend held for larger origins and destinations, “in particular Japan to USA Midwest, Germany to the USA and Kenya to the Netherlands.”

The August report found that volume growth y-o-y was evenly spread over the various product categories, barring pharmaceuticals which grew by about 10 percent.