From belly to boxes: domestic e-commerce delivers SEA cargo in weak year

A pandemic-driven explosion of e-commerce operations delivered 14.6% year-over-year growth to domestic cargo throughput at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), despite a significant drop in international passenger aircraft movements . Overall, the airport’s total cargo volumes increased by 0.2% in 2020, from nearly 454,000 tonnes in 2019 to almost 455,000 tonnes last year. The airport had previously forecast a 3% YoY increase in cargo throughput for 2020, in line with previous years’ growth, according to Tom Green, senior manager of cargo operations at the airport. However, COVID-19 unleashed a 29.7% decline in international air cargo volume from 2019, “primarily due to passenger flight suspensions,” according to a release from the airport. [caption id="attachment_63119" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] SeaTac saw its international cargo traffic drop 29.7% in 2020 mainly because of passenger flight suspensions. (Photo/Air Cargo World)[/caption] The addition of ad-hoc international freighters didn’t return enough capacity to make up for what was lost in bellyhold capacity, but the airport maintained a strong international freighter portfolio, said Green. International main-deck freight was hit somewhat less hard on the whole, said Ken Galka, air cargo operations manager at SEA. “International freighters didn’t show the declines, comparable to the belly. But for instance, in 2020, we show our figures record that Asia was down almost 34%, and Europe down about 25% year over year versus 2019,” said Galka. Historically, SEA’s cargo was divided fairly evenly into two-thirds freighter cargo and one-third belly, Galka said. However, 2020 saw freighters carry 77% of the cargo into and out of SEA, with just 23% traveling in the bellyhold. Many of the new freighters carried loads of domestic e-commerce goods, according to the airport’s website, which reported a 14.6% increase in domestic air cargo overall in 2020, “ with the biggest bump in e-commerce and express deliveries.” “We did see that market uptick in domestic, and we’re seeing it in domestic on the freighters, and so that tells us it’s coming in large part to this e-commerce boom that we’re having,” Green added. The result echoes IATA figures through November 2020 , which reported cargo traffic that was nearly flat for North America-based carriers. Even with the drop in international belly, despite capacity, domestic e-commerce and express demand more than offset losses. Passenger freighters played a role in making up for the loss of bellyhold capacity at SEA, with 290 cargo-only passenger flights operating through the airport in 2020, and helping to recover some of the losses sustained in the international passenger market, said Galka. The shift in how cargo was carried to and from SEA may even have been more dramatic, but the change was masked by how cargo statistics are reported at the airport, according to Galka. SEA considers any volume carried in a passenger aircraft’s bellyhold as belly cargo, regardless of whether the load was carried on a passenger freighter. Had these all-cargo flights been characterized as freighter flights, volume contributions from belly cargo would have been even lower in 2020. SEA predicts continuing e-commerce growth. “I don’t think we’ve seen the end of this,” said Green. “I think it’s a change in how consumers are approaching retail. It may increase the overall number of freighters, particularly on the domestic routes.” As a “second-tier hub,” according to Green, SEA is able to benefit from any growth in the integrated and e-commerce markets. The airport’s geographical location also plays a role as it’s surrounded by small airports like Arlington and Bremerton, which specialize in general aviation and have minimal cargo operations. SEA expects international airfreight to recover during the next few years, according to Green. “The part of our market that needs to recover is the belly freight. And, you know, we do see improvements coming to the belly side as the passenger flights restart.” In fact, on Jan. 29, Qatar Airways began serving SEA four times per week, linking the city with its hub in Doha (DOH) utilizing a cargo-friendly 777-300ER. Voting is now open for the 2021 Air Cargo Excellence Awards! Vote here today to rank your favorite carriers and airports.

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