Air cargo volumes remain tepid

International airports, such as Schiphol, have seen weak growth in the air freight business during the first half of the year, according to Airports Council International.    Global air cargo demand was flat during the first five months of the year, according to the Airports Council International (ACI).
   Overall freight traffic, as measured in metric tons, grew 0.2 percent between January and May.
   The Middle East reported moderate growth in total freight, rising 3.3 percent for May, followed by Europe (up 2.7 percent) and Asia-Pacific (up 1.4 percent).
   Meanwhile, North America, Latin America-Caribbean and Africa reported air freight declines of 1.5 percent, 3.9 percent and 5.7 percent, respectively.
   The airport trade association said eight of the top 20 largest air freight hubs reported declines in air freight volumes, including Hong Kong (down 1.1 percent), Frankfurt (down 1.7 percent) and Beijing (down 5.1 percent).
   Weak global trade and competition from other transport modes have hurt demand for air cargo service, ACI said.
   Actual tonnage figures are not available because ACI saves them to publish in an annual compendium.
   One airport that is doing better than the global average is Amsterdam’s Schiphol.
   The third largest air cargo hub in Europe saw its first half volume through June grow 1.6 percent to 796,801 tons. Schiphol Cargo handled 8,801 freighter movements, or 7.1 percent more than during the same period in 2015.
   “Compared to the other main European hubs, we had a good first half year in terms of volume: we attracted some new carriers such as Jet Airways, and experienced growth of some existing carriers such as DHL.
Asia is a very important market for us, and we are pleased to see that Schiphol remains an attractive hub for carriers from the region,” Jonas van Stekelenburg, head of Schiphol’s cargo division, said in a statement.
   European freight showed the strongest growth in the first two quarters of 2016, up 41.7 percent to 90,991 tons compared to 64,197 in the same period in 2015.
   The strong European results in part reflect development in carriers at Schiphol. New carrier Silk Way ships to Asia via Baku, and AirBridgeCargo, which has recently extended services from Schiphol, ships via Moscow. Both cities are defined as Europe.
   Asia remains Schiphol’s biggest market, picking up in June to show only a 5.8 percent dip over the six-month period, with 276,312 tons from January to June 2016 compared to 293,293 tons in the same period in 2015.
   Schiphol has focused on becoming a gateway for pharmaceuticals and has developed ways to make it easier for trucks to reach air cargo terminals.
   Africa showed a 2.3 percent growth for the first six months of 2016, at 90,870 tons.
   North America volumes grew 1.1 percent to 152,149 tons during the first half of the year.