Air freight falters on weaker economy in DHL, WorldACD outlooks

While air cargo yields and volumes were up 7% and 2%, respectively, year-over-year for October, according to WorldACD, the latest release of DHL’s Global Trade Barometer assigns November air cargo trade its lowest index score since DHL launched the Barometer in January of this year. The falling outlook moving into peak season hints at larger […]

• Caryn Livingston
• December 3, 2018

Winners and losers of a US exit from the Universal Postal Union

Yesterday, the Department of State motioned to drop out of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) in an attempt to mitigate the subsidization of small parcel shipments coming into the United States from abroad – notably from China. Whether the move will put a damper on flows of international airmail moving through the US, and the […]

• Charles Kauffman
• October 18, 2018

FedEx FY19 off to a strong start in first quarter

Yesterday, Memphis-based FedEx reported revenue up 11.5%  y-o-y for its 1QFY19 (ended 31 August) to US$17.05 billion. Operating income for the quarter rose 10.3% to $1.07 billion, while net income jumped 40.1% to $835 million. Looking beyond the quarter, company CEO Fred Smith told analysts during an earnings call the company is anticipating record-breaking volume […]

• Charles Kauffman
• September 18, 2018

Air cargo volume growth flattens in June

When Netherlands-based WorldACD reported air cargo performance results for May, the outlook for continued cargo growth was in question, summarized as “Is the party really over?” With yesterday’s release of June results from WorldACD, the answer seems to suggest that although the party isn’t truly winding down, it is certainly on hiatus for the summer. […]

• Caryn Livingston
• August 1, 2018

More freighters for FedEx and a solid 4QFY18

  Yesterday, along with the release of FedEx’s Q4FY18 financial results, Boeing and FedEx jointly announced an order for twelve 767Fs, and twelve 777Fs in a deal valued at $6.6 billion at list prices. Although the 767Fs represent are a completely new, previously unannounced order, FedEx has long stated in its Stat Book that it […]

• Charles Kauffman
• June 20, 2018

US tariffs on Chinese goods signal trade war has arrived

Today, the United States government followed through on earlier threats from US President Donald Trump by imposing a 25% tariff on about $50 billion worth of Chinese imports containing “industrially significant technologies,” which the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) said are related to China’s “theft of our intellectual property.” For its part, […]

• Caryn Livingston
• June 15, 2018

Is a Trade War Coming, or is it Already Here?

Last week, President Trump allowed the exemptions on tariffs on US imports of steel and aluminum to lapse. What does this have to do with air cargo? First of all, after agriculture, one of the most likely targets of retaliation by other countries will be the US aerospace industry. In a one-two punch, Boeing would […]

• Alan Hedge
• June 5, 2018

The wild card in the air freight game

Two weeks ago, when we analyzed the February results from some of the world’s big cargo carriers, we concluded that, once full worldwide data were available, we would see a fall-off in demand growth from January to February, and that the combined two-month growth would be below the double-digit percentages we saw last year, but […]

• David Harris
• April 4, 2018